UNSIGNED PREVIEW — not a promoted public release.
Actor: Simon Harris
insufficient_evidenceTopic: economy
Office: Taoiseach
Evidence: 10 events
Sources: 10
This promise by Simon Harris has INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE for a rating. Only 10 evidence events were found. More research is needed before a reliable assessment can be made.
This promise is SPECIFIC (vagueness score: 40/100). It includes measurable targets or deadlines that make it trackable. Specific promises are easier to verify as kept or broken.
Issue category: general
Sinn Féin criticized Martin's pension promises as 'cheap promises' ahead of elections, calling on him to 'come clean on pensions policy'.
Micheál Martin defended the plan to retain the pension age at 66, rejecting suggestions that keeping it at 66 was unsustainable.
Finance Minister Jack Chambers announced in Budget 2025 that the €14 billion Apple tax windfall would be invested in housing, energy, water, and transport infrastructure, stating: 'It is this government's view that we should utilise these revenues to address the known challenges that we face in housing, energy, water and transport infrastructure.'
The Apple escrow account was closed in May 2025, with a total sum of almost €14.25 billion transferred to the Irish exchequer. Apple had originally transferred €14.3 billion to the escrow account in 2018.
The government published its revised National Development Plan (NDP) for 2026-2030, with €102.4 billion in exchequer capital allocations — a 30% increase over the previous plan. The total 10-year plan (2026-2035) is valued at €275.4 billion. Taoiseach Micheál Martin described it as a 'step-change in the scale and quality of public investment in critical sectors.'
The revised NDP includes an additional €34 billion compared to the previous plan, of which approximately €10 billion is attributed to the Apple tax windfall. The extra €24 billion in the NDP review is composed of the €14bn Apple tax windfall, AIB share sale proceeds, and other state funds including the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund.
Infrastructure spending was boosted by 30% over five years, with total infrastructure spending reaching €112 billion. The spending covers electricity grid upgrades, water infrastructure, housing, and transport projects between 2026 and 2030.
The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage's sectoral capital plan supports investment of over €5.6 billion, plus €14 billion by ESB and EirGrid in energy infrastructure.
TheJournal.ie reported that the government opted not to give any breakdown of how the Apple tax money specifically will be spent, commingling it with other funding sources. Taoiseach Martin claimed election commitments were 'fully spoken for' in the NDP but no itemized allocation of the Apple tax windfall was provided. Fianna Fáil had pledged the money for housing, electricity grid, water infrastructure, transport, and health digitalisation; Fine Gael had promised €10bn for housing and €4bn for energy, water and transport.
The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council warned that the government was 'budgeting like there's no tomorrow,' noting that windfall corporate tax receipts (estimated at €17.6 billion for 2025) were masking significant underlying fiscal challenges and calling into question the sustainability of spending plans.
Invest €4–6 billion into the Future Ireland Fund