The budget is rapidly coming down the tracks and the requests from industry groups and government departments continue. One proposal that seems nailed on is a reduction in VAT on restaurants from 13.5 per cent to 9 per cent. But how much good will it do? The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council has run the numbers, and it makes for uncomfortable reading if you are in the hospitality sector or Government. Businesses in the sector are more likely to pass on VAT increases to consumers while keeping a higher proportion of VAT reductions, it found. Eoin Burke-Kennedy has the details.

In her column, Ciara O’Brien asks why AI chatbots are so bad at Irish, and what that can tell us about the wider AI eco-system being created today.

Cantillon looks at the fallout from this week’s Construction Industry Federation annual conference as well as what China’s National Day tells us about the economy there. It also runs the rule over the long-running Chartered Accountants Ireland report on EY for its role as auditor of Anglo Irish Bank.