Ireland’s government would run a multibillion-Euro deficit this year without the help of lucrative tax revenue paid by foreign corporations, including the likes of Medtronic, Accenture and others.
That’s among the takeaways from the latest fiscal assessment report by the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, an independent watchdog monitoring the island nation’s economy. Issued earlier this month, the report showed that Ireland would have a deficit of €11 billion 2026 excluding “excess corporation tax."
The group didn’t recommend any changes to Ireland’s tax structure for foreign firms, though it did raise warnings for the Irish government’s dependence on tax revenue from them.
“Most corporation tax receipts are set to be spent rather than saved. Under the government’s plan, only €1 out of every €6 collected will be set aside, with the remaining €5 used for ongoing spending commitments,” the report said.
The report’s findings likely won’t come as a surprise to many living in Ireland, which has long been home to several big U.S. firms’ international headquarters, including Menlo Park, California-based social media giant Meta and Cupertino, California-based tech titan Apple. But it is likely to reignite questions about the island nation’s seeming dependence on such revenue.
“The political reality is that despite (the council’s) decade-long warnings, corporate tax has risen from €7 billion in 2016 to an estimated €34 billion his year – and the debate now is on how to spend it,” wrote Cliff Taylor, managing editor of The Irish Times, in a recent op-ed.
The council’s report noted that Ireland’s public finances “have benefited from an enormous increase in corporation tax receipts.”
Compared to neighboring nations in Europe, Ireland collects nearly three times as much corporation tax, the report noted.
According to statistics from the Irish government, Ireland took in €32.9 billion in corporation tax in 2025. The lion’s share (€28.8 billion) was paid by foreign-owned multinational firms.
The fiscal watchdog group noted that such figures are subject to swings.
“Corporation tax receipts could quickly be much higher or much lower than current levels,” the report said. “As a result, they are not a reliable source to fund permanent spending commitments.”
The Irish government in 2024 set up two funds to save some earnings from corporate taxes, but Irish leaders have considered borrowing money to meet legislative requirements for such funds. The watchdog’s report said such a move would depart “from the original purpose of the new funds, which was to save, rather than spend, risky corporation tax receipts.”
The fiscal advisory group’s latest report is largely in line with the same one it issued last year. At the time, the council said that Ireland would run a €5 billion deficit in the absence of corporate taxes. The group also noted that just three companies accounted “for most of the excess corporation tax.”
