How should Ireland spend an €8.6 billion surplus?

It’s a position that most governments can only dream of: a projected budget surplus of €8.6 billion. Ireland has been fortunate: thanks to record corporation tax receipts from global firms based there, like Apple and Pfizer, it’s been in the black for three years running. The (good) problem now is how to spend it: the government is setting up a sovereign wealth fund to cover future pension and climate liabilities – anticipating that the corporation tax windfall can’t be counted on indefinitely – but is facing calls for serious spending ahead of its October budget on housing, infrastructure and public transport. A (less good) problem: it turns out the government spent €336,000 installing a bike shelter at Leinster House, the seat of the Irish parliament in Dublin. Simon Harris, the prime minister, called the cost “inexcusable”.