Speech by Tánaiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris at the Irish Times Business Awards

Introduction

Thank you, Colette, and Good Evening, Everyone.

It is a pleasure to be with you all tonight for The Irish Times Business Awards.

Let me begin by thanking The Irish Times and Bank of Ireland for once again bringing this event together, and for the important role both organisations play in recognising and celebrating the contribution that business leaders make to our country.

So before I go any further, I want to acknowledge that leadership and thank you for the contribution you make to our economy and society. I’d also like to extend my warmest congratulations to all tonight’s award nominees for what is a significant achievement.

It is traditional for people like me to reference our august venue as being the location of the first Dáil in 1919 for the proclamation of the Declaration of Independence and two years later in 1921 for the ratification of the Anglo-Irish Treaty.

I thought, since we have some of our biggest food businesses here tonight, that I should mention that it also played host to Dublin’s biggest cake, back during the 1988 millennium year.

Far be it from me to suggest the Irish Times could borrow a new category for the awards from this moment in history, but you can see how the coverage would write itself.

Legend also has it that the Mansion House is home to a number of ghosts. A former Lord Mayor and current colleague of mine (Naoise ó Muirí) has testified that this is true. One of them is believed to be a man who is a superior type who does not want to leave. Sounds about right for many politicians. Anyway, back to the business in hand.

These awards showcase the very best of Irish enterprise. The diversity of leaders and organisations gathered in this room tonight tells an important story about the kind of economy we have built.

It can be seen in the contest for deal of the year between one of our most successful fintech companies, two of our most successful food businesses and one of our largest hotel chains. (Stripe, Greencore, Dawn Meats and Dalata Hotel Group.)

It can be seen in the contest for local business of the year between food, retail, construction, energy and hotel businesses.

(Food group, Loughnane’s of Galway; retailer, Furey Smyth Group; construction company, Castle Group; Hanley Energy; and hotel group, Address Collective.)

And again in the shortlist for Company of the Year.

(CRH, Stripe, Greencore and Glanbia.)

This is the diversity that defines us as an economy. It’s a reminder that our economic success isn’t concentrated in one sector or region but is built by businesses of all sizes right across our country, and by business leaders who are willing to invest, to hire, to take risks and to make difficult decisions.

Those decisions not only shape your own companies, but they also influence the confidence investors place in our economy. At a time when the global environment is more challenging and unpredictable than at any point in recent memory, the leadership you demonstrate has never mattered more.

Every generation of leaders faces the unique challenge of its time. For business leaders, for political leaders, the challenge of this moment in time is building economic security and resilience in the face of this unpredictability.

Securing the Future

It is clear that we are now operating in an extended period of heightened global uncertainty.

Last year the turbulence of tariff threats was the dominant challenge in my brief as Trade Minister.

As Finance Minister, the opening weeks of 2026 have reminded us just how quickly new risks can crystalise.

It is no exaggeration to say that we were at the precipice of a major geopolitical and economic crisis this time last month.

However, the collective commitment of European leaders to territorial sovereignty – combined with calm diplomacy rather than knee-jerk reactions – proved crucial to de-escalation.

Unfortunately, of course, this does not guarantee that certainty will now prevail. If anything, what the last year has taught us is that uncertainty will remain a key feature of the global policy environment over the coming period.

How we build security despite this uncertainty is the challenge for all of us in this room tonight. It will dictate the continued robust performance of our economy. It will define our progress as a society. And, by working to create a secure future, it must recreate hope, particularly for our younger people.

I believe our approach must be, first, to prioritise what we can control and influence at a domestic level.

That means investing in productivity-enhancing infrastructure that underpins long-term growth.

That is why our National Development Plan sets out our clear commitments to sustained investment in housing, transport, energy and water.

Of course, it is not enough to merely increase the capital envelope – we must also speed up delivery and remove bottlenecks where they arise.

That is why we are transforming our approach to deliver infrastructure, streamlining development processes and reforming our regulatory environment.

This work is vital to the major infrastructure projects our economy needs but also to unlock housing development, which I know is a key concern for businesspeople, whether it is for your families, or your workers, or because you operate in a connected sector.

For me as Minister for Finance, housing is not only a social issue, but a macroeconomic one.

It has both fiscal and financial stability implications, and it is a major area of focus for my Department.

That is why are supporting housing delivery through: taxation measures, such as the viability and tax incentive measures introduced in the last budget; financing for home builders, such as the recent equity programme launched in collaboration with ISIF and the national banks; and non-Exchequer funding for key state delivery partners such as the LDA and the Housing Finance Agency.

Building future security is why we will continue to invest in long term savings funds to equip us in preparing for future structural challenges in the economic cycle.

And it is why we have move to a medium term approach to fiscal planning, moving away from short term budgeting, and bringing all of our plans together in a coherent strategy.

Economic Outlook

I know my predecessor, Paschal Donohoe, spoke at these awards back in 2019.

That day, I’m reliably informed that Paschal reflected on the economic progress we had made over the previous decade.

He could not have predicted the extraordinary challenges we would go on to face in the space of a few short years.

Just as I could not have predicted when I reappointed him as Finance Minister that I would be stepping into the role myself less than a year later, but that’s another story. Like I said, we live in an uncertain world….

Seriously, as we know, we went from the Covid-19 pandemic, to the War in Ukraine, to the cost of living crisis as inflation soared, to more recent geopolitical uncertainty.

The Government quite rightly supported business through these shocks in a range of ways and Irish enterprise demonstrated characteristic resilience.

Ireland’s economy has emerged strongly despite these major challenges.

Nowhere is that clearer than in the jobs market. Today (literally – as the latest figures were published this morning), more than 2.83 million people are at work – the highest level ever recorded in the State.

This means that over 450,000 more people are now in employment than just before the pandemic, with around 57,000 of these jobs added in the past 12 months alone.

The unemployment rate meanwhile fell to 4.6 per cent in the final quarter of last year. The unemployment rate has now remained below 5 per cent for 16 consecutive quarters.

Looking ahead, we are projecting employment growth to remain solid in the short to medium term – with an additional 41,000 jobs anticipated for 2026.

All of this should give us confidence that we can navigate our way through this period of uncertainty to a secure and stable future.

Fiscal Outlook

The best way to ensure we remain in the strongest possible position is by continuing to pursue a balanced and appropriate approach to overall budgetary policy.

For this year, a significant General Government Surplus is expected, and we expect to run further surpluses over the medium-term.

We will protect jobs, maintain our competitiveness and boost our resilience in a deeply uncertain period for the global economy.

In the next Budget, alongside a tax package that works for working people, I want to see us take a bold step towards securing the future for our people.

Savings and Investment Account (SIA)

It’s an area that I feel very passionate about – and that’s how we as a Government can make people’s savings work better for them.

To provide some context, there is approximately €170 billion on deposit in Irish bank accounts today.

And I think that shows us two things.

One: That Irish households are good at saving.

Despite the challenging times we’ve been through, despite the cost-of-living pressures that I know households still face – so many citizens continue to put small sums away each week or each month.

I’m not talking about the uber wealthy – I’m talking about working people, the so-called ‘squeezed middle’, who make that extra effort to set aside a few euro for a rainy day.

People who work hard to build a deposit, to a create a financial buffer, which they will one day use for a deposit on a home, to support their child’s education or other well-held ambitions.

Two: But, secondly, the level of savings currently on deposit shows us something less positive.

That’s the fact that this money is, to be frank, sitting idle.

It generates very little return for the people who are consciously trying to build that bit of security for themselves and their families.

There’s no doubt we are lagging behind other countries when it comes to supporting retail investment and long-term savings.

So I ask you this question: What problem would a Savings and Investment Account solve?

It solves the problem of hard-working people doing the right thing – and that’s saving – but yet not being rewarded for it.

So this initiative – a Savings and Investment Account – is a key priority for me over the course of the next two budgets.

In the coming weeks, I intend to bring a strategy to Government that will set out the principles and the framework that while guide our approach.

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my ambition to make real progress in the area of Savings and Investment in the upcoming Budget.

We are a nation of savers.

Let’s become a nation that enables those savings to work better, for both families and the wider economy.

Closing Remarks

Finally, let me return to where I began.

This evening is about recognising achievement – but it is also about recognising leadership. It is your ambition and commitment to innovation that continues to shape our economic success.

Government can set the framework. We can invest in infrastructure, maintain stability in our public finances, and design a tax and skills system that supports enterprise.

But it is you – the entrepreneurs and leaders in this room – who turn opportunity into growth and who form the foundation of our economic strength.

So let me finish by saying thank you for the contribution you all make to communities right across our country. And once again, my warmest congratulations to all of tonight’s nominees.

Go raibh maith agaibh.

ENDS