What should be done with projected €65 billion budget surplus?

You end up not having resolved structural problems in the economy and trying to borrow at more adverse conditions. Improve the overall productive capacity of the economy to protect against lean times.

If you have a hole in the roof and you win 20 grand, do you use it the repair the roof or pay down your mortgage?

And government debt doesnt have to be paid off in full as long as in the long term you have economic growth.

Seriously, as has been said before Infrastructure. But I'd get a load of forensic accountants to oversee any projects and to make sure that there's no corruption, or needless waste. Just to make it as difficult as possible for corrupt behaviour to waste this money. No more Children's Hospital fiascos.

Prisons - as the population grows it's an unfortunate fact that we need more prisons. I'm not a hang em and flog em person, or cheerleading for private prisons - no one here wants that ****. But at present the system is dysfunctional. Court reports of offenders with 60, 70 + previous convictions getting off with suspended sentences is an example of this. Also the fact that there is no real deterrent to criminal behaviour for teenagers is bad for everyone. The diversion programme sounds good on paper but is it working?

Drug treatment programmes - Again not something that will grab headlines, but if it helps people and keeps them out of prison well and good.

More hospitals and primary care centres - if not acute hospitals then one near Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway for dealing with non emergency cases. I don't know how to keep them out of the clutches of the HSE mismanagement. Primary Care Centres based in the community to help take pressure off A & E departments. Also look seriously at staffing recruitment and retention. If that means increased pay or conditions.

Housing is a huge thing. 1/3rd of our population considering leaving due to housing is a totally dysfunctional situation. 75% of under 25's considering the same is a real smack in the face for the government, or would be if they had any shame. What good does this do for Irish society?

Dedicated, affordable housing for first responders, healthcare, emergency and defence forces personnel.

Public transport - underground for Dublin. Luas for Cork and Galway. National rail network upgrades.

Power generation - take Eamon Ryan away from this. It is too important to let that muppet in charge of it. Fine spend money on wind power, but also license gas exploration as a failsafe. Either that or build a nuclear plant, but that won't be popular with the Greens.

Pay our soldiers and sailors a living wage. We need to upgrade the navy so we can adequately patrol our waters and way of protecting the undersea cables. Also primary radar so we can at least tell who is flying through our airspace.

If there was anything else left over then spend it on proper grant system to allow retrofit for housing to bring it up to Scandinavian standards.

Have I missed anything?

This is a very fair suggestion.

But, and it's a big but, if you concede that principle, where does it stop?

People who paid USC (every earner), people who lost out on PRSI dental and optical benefit when it was slashed, people who paid increased inheritance and CGT and DIRT etc.

It would be opening a Pandora's box and it's not going to happen.

True, but at the same time, some bonds are maturing and will have to be either refinanced or paid down.

Refinancing at the higher borrowing rates there are now would be stone mental, so paying down certain debt categories, with some of the surplus, is a prudent step.

Just like in 2008, we cannot rely on the economy expanding at current rates indefinitely and we could encounter ballooning net debt costs if anything were to go very wrong globally. We need to get our fundamental Debt:GDP ratios lower and not save up a time bomb for the future like happened to us before.

To illustrate; Ireland's Debt:GDP is 45%. But Ireland's Debt:GNI* is 90%. And we know GNI* is the much more reliable gauge of nominal domestic activity in the case of this State.

So, we need that figure down below 60% to be sustainable and low risk long term.

And we can do that quite handily by 2030 with prudence.

Hence I said "ahead of schedule". Refinancing maturing loans would be madness, in fact it would make more sense to do the opposite and enter the bond market and lend rather than borrow as a hedge against inflation, but in truth I think a better use would be properly thought out capital projects. Renewable energy, social housing and yes I will raise the elephant in the room, a Nuclear power plant.

Buy land from farmers and plant native trees on a large scale.

Galway bypass

Build houses and apartments

Upgrade our sewage systems

Pay down our massive debt

Waste, Corruption and Cronyism (a given)

A previous suggestion of a reduction in VAT is a good suggestion. Maybe bring the standard rate of VAT down to 20% from 23% (which is one of the higher standard VAT rates in the EU).

This would put money in people's pockets immediately (however this could be a double edged sword in terms of inflation).

We need more than houses, all those houses need power, water, sewage, roads, buses, trains, broadband etc....

I agree though the state should build houses and if in future if they had too many they can just increase the criteria slightly e.g. could offer cost rentals to students, OAPs or whoever

Just did a quick calculation. 65 billion would not be enough. By a long way.

Infrastructure infrastructure infrastructure.

Build a metro from Rathfarnham to Clondalkin as I’m sick of being stuck in traffic and there’s loads o money.

Ever since there was word of this budget surplus it was very noticeable how often there seemed to be regular articles and opinions in the papers advocating Ireland joining NATO.

Seems like we're being softened up by the government for this surplus to be used for that.

So true. These numpitie politicians will look after their pals and connections.

Spend it on makeup for our political betters.

Why do the government insist on increasing social welfare rates at a time of full employment? It doesn't make sense to incentivise those still on it to stay on it when we don't have enough workers.

FG in particular have nothing to gain from the welfare vote and neither do FF or the Greens.

Yet instead of rewarding workers who would in turn reward them they keep throwing money at the most protected demographic in the state year after year.