By Tabitha Monahan
As the EU awaits the final agreement to be secured on trade tariffs with the US, Mr Martin said this year’s budget would be different to those of previous years with no cost of living package.
Speaking in Tokyo where Mr Martin is currently on a trade mission, the Taoiseach said that “challenges lay ahead” as the budget negotiations begin as the international trade outlook remains uncertain.
“Public expenditure has risen on average, 8pc to 9pc over the last number of years. Such high levels of expenditure are not sustainable on the current basis,” Mr Martin said.
Mr Martin said the meeting last Saturday between the senior ministers also included discussions on the National Development Plan, budgetary matters and the median term financial framework.
“It was a sobering enough meeting, to be frank, in terms of the challenges that lie ahead, given the backdrop of tariffs and uncertainty in trade, and also the warnings we’ve received in terms of the once-off nature, or the temporary nature, perhaps, of certain corporation tax revenues,” the Taoiseach said.
Meanwhile, the Government remains committed to reducing the student contribution fees at third level, but this will happen over the lifetime of the Government, Mr Martin said.
It comes as Higher Education Minister James Lawless confirmed over the weekend that the fee would revert back to the amount owed before the €1,000 reduction was introduced as a cost of living measure.
He added that supports and other commitments would have to be included in mainstream measures, which created difficulty for the Government in the first year.
“Last year and the year before, we got a lot done through the cost of living packages, which were once-off packages, and they were not in the mainstream budget. So therein lies difficulty,” Mr Martin said.
“What we’re going to try and do is mainstream forms and commitments in the Programme for Government into the budget that will be sustained in over a period of time. But that will create challenges for us in the first year,” he added.
Mr Martin added that the Government had other commitments in the Programme for Government aside from reducing student contribution fees, including the carer’s allowance commitment, and the income disregard.
On the US trade tariffs due to be announced next week, Mr Martin said “we are in more uncertain waters” and that it was now about damage limitation.
“I think the EU is basically saying, and I think President von der Leyen said we’re not going to go back to where we were. We are in a changed environment. The issue is, can we limit the damage?”
On the upcoming presidential election, Mr Martin said Fianna Fáil would take a decision “in due course” on whether to run a candidate but seemed to indicate there would be no announcement until the end of the summer.
“We didn’t run a candidate last time and we didn’t run a candidate before that. But of course, we’re examining the situation. We’re taking soundings,” Mr Martin said.
“I think Joan Burton said recently, I believe she said it that if she was any candidate or any party she wouldn’t announce anything until August 28, from previous experiences,” Mr Martin said.