Exclusive Interview: Feargal O'Rourke, Managing Partner (PwC Ireland)
BUDGET 2021 “a Budget the likes of which we really haven’t seen before” On Tuesday, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe and Minister for Public Expenditure Michael McGrath will present Budget 2021 amid a backdrop of unprecedented uncertainty. It will be a Budget “the likes of which we really haven’t seen before,” says PwC Managing Partner, Feargal O’Rourke. “A lot of this budget will be about giving confidence to people about spending money and about trying to stimulate the economy. At a big picture level, we can’t borrow indefinitely: so his [Paschal Donohoe] opening salvo has to be about staying in the pack of European countries so that Ireland is not an outlier on borrowing. That is something which happened to us a decade ago. O’Rourke feels Donohoe will be focused on borrowing enough such that Ireland is not an outlier but then it is also about spending that money “in a way that generates as much economic activity as possible.” “I think Michael McGrath’s role on Budget Day is goin...