How Budget 2027 Can Strengthen Ireland's Appeal

The decisions taken in Budget 2027 will influence investment, employment and economic growth for years to come.

In brief

• Budget 2027 is an opportunity to strengthen the conditions that support investment, employment and economic growth.
• Ireland's competitiveness now depends on turning funding commitments into delivered infrastructure and energy capacity.
• The decisions taken in Budget 2027 will help determine Ireland's attractiveness as a location for future investment.

Corporation tax is garnering headlines in the pre-Budget period, with many highlighting its contribution to the public finances. Strong corporate tax receipts have enabled growth and government spending, but they have also raised questions about how Ireland can protect that revenue in the years ahead. For a country that has benefited enormously from foreign direct investment, the conversation should not focus on how much corporation tax is collected in the State but what is needed to both retain and attract the businesses that generate those taxes, and equally create huge employment, located in Ireland.

Investors consider a range of factors when making decisions about where to locate their overseas business, including where they can attract and hire the talent they need, if they can build facilities efficiently, and if the requisite infrastructure is in place in areas like housing, transport and renewable energy. They also consider the simplicity and efficiency of being able to run their businesses without red tape, including a tax system that brings stability and certainty, and that evolves so it can remain attractive and competitive.

The EY Ireland Attractiveness Survey suggests Ireland remains well positioned, but it also highlights those factors that investors believe will be most important in future. As Budget 2027 approaches, strengthening those foundations may be one of the most effective ways to support future investment and the tax revenues that come with it.

Investors are already telling us where Budget 2027 should focus

As in recent years, Ireland enters the Budget 2027 cycle from a position of relative strength. The Summer Economic Statement sets out a Budget framed around competitiveness, making work pay and investing for the future. It also sets out a total budgetary package of €8.5 billion for 2027, comprising €7 billion in additional public spending and €1.5 billion in new tax measures.

The EY Ireland Attractiveness Survey adds an additional layer to the policy debate. It suggests that Ireland's core offering is strong: 66% of respondents say they plan to establish or expand operations in Ireland over the next year, while 62% expect Ireland's attractiveness to increase over the next three years.

The investors surveyed identify infrastructure, energy cost and security, skills, talent mobility, and tax simplicity as the practical conditions that will shape Ireland's ability to convert attractiveness into investment. Budget 2027 therefore offers an opportunity to move from a narrative of attractiveness to a programme of delivery.

The Summer Economic Statement and the Attractiveness Survey arrive at much the same conclusion from different starting points. The first sets out the Government's priorities for Budget 2027; the second shows how investors view Ireland's prospects. Together, they suggest the challenge is ensuring we can accommodate and sustain future investment.

Boosting competitiveness through infrastructure

39% of respondents to the EY Ireland Attractiveness survey identify infrastructure as Ireland's greatest disadvantage compared with other locations. A further 33% cite lack of modern infrastructure as one of the main risks to Ireland's attractiveness over the next three years, making it the top risk identified in the survey. When asked where Ireland should concentrate its efforts to maintain its competitive position, 42% say major infrastructure projects should be prioritised.

The point for Budget 2027 is around delivery capacity.

The National Development Plan sets out €275 billion of public capital investment to 2035, alongside substantial investment programmes by the State's utilities. Taken together, this represents the largest capital programme in the State's history. The publication of the Accelerating Infrastructure Report and “Action Plan” in December 2025 marked an important acknowledgement that Ireland's infrastructure challenge is a combination of both funding, and delivery.

Infrastructure requirements continue to grow. Housing demand, population growth, the energy transition and digitalisation are increasing pressure on existing systems and creating demand for new investment. As Budget 2027 approaches, the question is whether the current frameworks are leading to faster, more predictable and more effective delivery.

Budget 2027 should reinforce the implementation of the Action Plan by aligning capital allocation, project prioritisation, delivery capacity and accountability. It should also provide greater transparency as to whether reforms are improving delivery performance and where further intervention is required.

Three priorities should guide that approach:

1. Prioritise infrastructure that unlocks housing, investment and productive capacity.
2. Select funding and delivery models according to project characteristics and long-term value, including appropriate use of private capital.
3. Measure success through improvements in delivery certainty and completed outcomes, not solely through expenditure or the completion of administrative actions.

Ireland’s infrastructure ambition is clear. The Accelerating Infrastructure Action Plan provides a framework for reform. Budget 2027 now presents an opportunity to demonstrate that the system can convert ambition, funding and reform into delivered infrastructure.

Energy as competitiveness infrastructure

37% of respondents identify the cost of energy as one of Ireland's greatest disadvantages, second only to infrastructure. A further 27% cite volatile energy prices or energy supply issues as a main risk to Ireland's attractiveness, while the same proportion say Ireland should reduce energy prices and increase energy independence to maintain competitiveness. At the same time, 45% say Ireland should accelerate the low-carbon energy transition to improve attractiveness for foreign investment.

As discussed above, much of the infrastructure debate focuses on addressing existing constraints. While constraints do exist, energy has a distinct challenge. As digitisation of industries and the application of AI accelerate, particularly in areas such as advanced manufacturing and other energy-intensive sectors, policymakers increasingly have to plan for demand that does not yet exist. Businesses are replacing fossil fuels with electricity, while growth in digital infrastructure is placing additional demands on the network.

Recent policy and regulatory developments acknowledge this challenge. The Government's Large Energy User Action Plan (LEAP) aims to tackle infrastructure barriers facing energy-intensive industries, while the Commission for Regulation of Utilities’ (CRU) PR6 framework provides for significant investment in the network with considerations to help the system respond to changing demand and future growth requirements.

Investors need evidence that the infrastructure needed to support growth will be available when it is required. The ability of a manufacturer or pharmaceutical company, for example, to secure a grid connection within a timeframe that supports investment decisions is becoming an increasingly important factor in decisions about where to locate and expand.

Making work pay and competing for talent

Thirty-eight per cent of respondents say reducing personal income tax rates would help Ireland most to improve its tax competitiveness. But the broader talent picture matters just as much: 42% say Ireland should increase the supply of skills in key areas such as technology, engineering and energy, while 40% support measures to increase talent mobility, including through immigration rules.

The survey also shows that workforce quality remains a source of strength, with 39% identifying the availability and quality of Ireland's workforce as a competitive advantage. The challenge for Budget 2027 is therefore to protect that advantage while responding to the skills and mobility pressures that could constrain future investment.

However, our universities still need additional funding to create new courses and fund academic research and scholarships so that Ireland is at the forefront of any conversations on the workforce of the future and particularly where companies should invest and create employment. Irish universities cannot compete with the philanthropy participation rates in countries like the US, but we should encourage enhanced tax breaks for donors to universities or academic institutions so that we can build a culture of paying it forward for the next generation.

The quality of Ireland's workforce continues to be one of the country's strongest selling points. Maintaining that position will require ongoing investment in skills development and workforce participation, particularly as demand grows in areas such as engineering, energy, technology and infrastructure delivery. Many of the projects needed to support Ireland's future growth already have funding committed. The question is whether we will have the workforce capacity required to deliver them.

Budget 2027 can play a role by supporting skills development, encouraging labour market participation and a culture of philanthropy and helping to address areas where employers continue to experience talent shortages. For investors, access to talent is increasingly part of the overall competitiveness equation.

Tax certainty and simplicity as a future-investment signal

Stability and certainty are words that have for a long time been closely associated with Ireland's international tax proposition. It is hugely important that Budget 2027 and indeed future Budgets should continue to recognise certainty and predictability as core elements of Ireland's tax competitiveness.

Forty-five per cent of respondents identify tax competitiveness as Ireland's greatest advantage, ahead of workforce quality and regulation. Among those planning to establish or expand operations, 46% cite tax conditions as a reason for doing so, close to the 47% citing access to new markets and customers.

When asked what would help Ireland improve its tax competitiveness, almost a third of respondents favour reducing the complexity of tax codes and compliance processes. This gives the tax section a clear Budget 2027 message: the tax environment should support simplification and ease of investment.

Ireland now has an opportunity to provide the certainty businesses need by establishing a clear and coherent long-term tax strategy. Simplification and incentives are two particular areas that should be addressed, which would give businesses greater confidence to make long-term investment decisions in Ireland. 

Ireland cannot control international tax, trade or geopolitical uncertainty, but it does have the ability to reduce complexity and uncertainty. Certainty, however, does not just relate to tax rates. It means a taxpayer being able to understand reasonably quickly what the tax treatment is and what they need to do. Ireland can continue to improve advance guidance across complex tax areas including BEPS Pillar II, thereby reducing the administrative burden associated with compliance. At a time of rapid technological change, we should also look to reduce the size and complexity of all tax returns. This would benefit taxpayers and administrators alike.

As many articles and commentators have already highlighted enhancing Ireland’s long-term tax incentives, in particular those relating to R&D and innovation, is critically important for investment, both for FDI and indigenous businesses. The decisions taken by Ireland today will directly influence the business and investment decisions companies make over the next five years. A good example is the ongoing consultation by the Department of Finance on extending R&D tax credits to companies that outsource qualifying work overseas. As noted above while Ireland cannot control International tax policy, it can ensure its own R&D policies, which have a clear link to IP ownership, continue to support competitiveness and attract investment. The role of R&D, AI and innovation in shaping Ireland's future attractiveness warrants deeper examination and is explored in a separate article here.

Conclusion

The Summer Economic Statement sets out a Budget 2027 agenda centered on competitiveness, making work pay and investing for the future. The EY Ireland Attractiveness Survey suggests that investors broadly agree with that direction, but are clear about what it will require in practice.

Ireland remains attractive. Investor confidence is positive, and tax competitiveness, workforce quality and the wider business environment continue to support the proposition. But the survey also shows that future success will increasingly depend on delivery: infrastructure capacity, energy affordability and security, talent availability, and a stable, simple operating environment.

Budget 2027 is therefore an opportunity not simply to attract investment, but to strengthen the conditions that allow investment to land, scale and endure. Investors are not asking Ireland to reinvent its value proposition. They are asking Ireland to deliver on it.

While much of the competitiveness discussion focuses on attracting international investment, Budget 2027 also presents an opportunity to reinforce the conditions that support entrepreneurship and business growth at home. A competitive economy depends not only on attracting capital and talent, but also on encouraging enterprise formation, scaling and reinvestment. Measures that support work, innovation and responsible risk-taking can contribute to that broader objective.