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TWENTY YEARS AGO, as now, the cost of living was a big talking point ahead of the Budget.
Every year, The Journal takes a look at a budget in the past to draw parallels or contrast to today. This year, the similarities are obvious.
Rip Off Republic was RTÉ’s hit show of the summer in 2005 and it heaped pressure on then finance minister Brian Cowen to help out hard-pressed families.
In the two decades since, the title of the show is now common parlance whenever people feel they are being overcharged or prices are getting out of control.
Sinn Féin almost employed it this week when launching their alternative budget, a document that was called “Ending the Rip-Off”.
Back in 2005, Rip Off Republic was broadcast as Ireland’s Celtic Tiger economy was in full swing and inflation was on the rise. The format basically saw host Eddie Hobbs and members of the public speaking about what were seen as price excesses for consumers.
As an ESRI report from 2005 pointed out, the economy was still in rapid growth mode but the building and construction industry was driving prices upwards across retail and other sectors.
The programme and the issues it raised was a major problem for the Bertie Ahern-led government, with fears among Fianna Fáilers that the RTÉ show could cost them a chunk of seats in the election that was coming down the tracks.
Or worse still, that it could cause the collapse of the coalition with the Progressive Democrats.
Hobbs would later dabble in politics himself and was involved in the founding of anti-abortion and conservative party Renua. In 2024, he ran in the local elections and has previously spread misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines.
As Rip Off Republic became a talking point in 2005, Ahern himself was forced into action, criticising the show for being “opinionated” and in his view inaccurate.
At one point there was even talk that Hobbs and the RTÉ director-general Cathal Goan would face questions before an Oireachtas committee.
While that step never came to pass, there’s little doubt that it played into the budget that was announced a couple of months later. Come December time, Cowen dedicated a section of his second budget to “Keeping Consumer Prices Down”.
The money minister promised to “secure value for money for the consumer” and “keep prices at a minimum”.
What exactly did he do in that regard? Well, the primary thing he did was to keep the main VAT and excise rates at the same level for the following year.
The excise decision was particularly significant as it meant that the so-called “old reliables” of alcohol, cigarettes and petrol did not face an increase.
Other taxes were also reduced, like on home heating oils and the betting tax.
As was the norm for the time, there were wide-ranging increases to social welfare payments, with a new early childcare supplement of €1,000 per year for each child.
Fast-forward to this year and spiralling costs are again a big talking point ahead of budget day.
Since February, we have known that the one-off payments that were part of recent budgets, such as the energy tax credit, will not be part of this year’s plans. This is despite inflation creeping back up again and energy prices being among the primary culprits.
The government has been attempting to push back on the suggestion that people will be worse off this year without them, with the Taoiseach arguing that real wages are up.
Such arguments are unlikely to do enough to convince people though and current Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe will have to unveil something on Budget day to convince them instead.
Donohoe has promised he will do just that but has insisted they will be “targeted measures” and not the once-off, universal payments of recent budgets.
“Even though the rate of inflation has come down, the cost of living is still high,” Donohoe said last week.
Fear of the rip-off republic narrative it seems still looms large.
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