LABOUR’S FINANCE SPOKESPERSON Ged Nash was quick off the mark with his criticism of Finance Minister Simon Harris and Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers in the Dáil after they delivered Budget 2027.

Nash, who last year made headlines after deeming Budget 2026 (which had a focus on supports for the hospitality sector and housing developers) one for “burger barons and big builders”, was once again cutting in his assessment of this year’s package.

“There you have it. The first budget of two, delivered by ‘Soundbite Simon’ and ‘Jack GPT’,” Nash deadpanned in the Dáil this afternoon as his party leader Ivana Bacik beamed beside him, clearly tickled by Nash’s use of alliteration.

“We expected little, and they haven’t disappointed,” Nash said, before criticising what he deemed a “lack of honesty” at the heart of this budget.

“The Tánaiste told us this was a workers’ budget – some hard neck,” he said, adding that workers will be left disappointed by this year’s announcement. 

Nash’s nickname for the public expenditure minister may have been borne from the style of language used in his budget speech, which exhibited some similarities to AI-generated writing.

For example, AI-generated text often relies on saying something is ‘not just X, it is Y’.

“Budget 2027 is not just an exercise in allocation; it’s also an exercise in reform,” Chambers said at one point. 

“Not only is Ireland’s agri-food sector supporting jobs and exports, but it’s also the driving force of our rural communities,” he said at another.

When he was later asked by The Journal about his new nickname and whether he used artificial intelligence to help write his budget speech, Chambers was defiant: 

 ”Absolutely not. Not at all.”

He said he wasn’t in the Dáil chamber for Nash’s remarks, but stressed that his budget speech was “very much written in the direction I’ve been bringing the budgetary process in the last number of weeks”.

“And I think we reflected that and got good feedback from many people about the speech we delivered today,” the minister said. 

Others in the Dáil this afternoon also opted to inject some colour into their critiques of this year’s budget. 

Independent TD Paul Gogarty (well known for his colourful and sometimes unparliamentary language) told his fellow TDs that this budget was more “Westlife than Fontaine’s D.C”. 

“There’s a few crowd pleasers, heavy on cover versions, something again for everyone in the audience, but nothing of real substance,” the Dublin Midwest TD said. 

Gogarty may have forgotten that Westlife has just finished a record-breaking 13-date run at the 3Arena.

Hopefully the fans in his constituency won’t hold the comment against him.