The budget will be €8.3bn of new money overall - that's a growth of 6.9 percent on last year.
Let’s look at some at of today’s bigger announcements, broken down into categories.
Cost of Living
- National Childcare Scheme budget to increase 44 percent, leading to full time childcare costs reducing by an average of €1,100 a year.
- €250 electricity credit in two parts - one before the end of the year and one after.
- Minimum wage to rise by 80c to €13.50 an hour from Jan 1st. A full time worker on the minimum wage will see their net income rise by €1,424 every year.
- Two double payments of child benefit will happen in November and December.
- The 9% rate of VAT on gas and electricity is being extended six months to 30th April 2025.
Personal Tax and Allowances
- Main tax credits will increase by 125 euro on personal, employee and earned income.
- Higher rate of tax rises by €2k, to €44k
- Entry rate to 3 percent rate of USC will rise to €27k.
- Increase in the Carer Tax Credit by €150.
- Blind tax credit to increase by €300 euro.
- Inheritance tax increasing from €335k to 400k from a parent.
- Payments to women under the Cervical Check payment scheme will be exempt from tax.
Welfare
- Weekly social protection payments to increase by €12.
- An October and a Christmas social welfare double payment will be made.
- €400 lump sum on the working family payment this year.
- A baby bonus of €420 to be paid for each newborn child.
- Maternity, paternity, adoptive and parents leave rise by €15.
- €300 to those on fuel allowance in November, €200 extra on the living alone allowance, €400 euro to those on carers support grant, disability allowance, blind pension, invalidity pension and domiciliary care allowance.
- Increase to carers allowance disregard to €625 euro for a single person and €1,250 for a couple. Increasing domiciliary care allowance by €20. Increasing carers support grant by €150.
- Enabling carers allowance to be an enabling payment for fuel allowance.
Housing, Property and Renting
- Rent tax credit to rise by €250, to €1,000 and €2,000 for a jointly assessed couple for 2025
- The Help to Buy scheme is being extended until the end of the decade.
- Stamp duty on bulk purchases of homes by investment funds rises from 10 to 15 percent.
- Vacant homes tax to rise from 5 to 7 times the local property tax rate from November.
- €3.2bn in capital funding for housing – including for 10 thousand new social homes.
- €186m to regenerate towns and urban areas, as well as €90m to retrofit 2,500 social homes.
- Increased stamp duty on high value residences. From tonight there will be a 6 percent rate of stamp duty on properties worth more than 1.5m. Rates 1 percent up to €1m, 2 percent of up to €1.5m, 6 percent over €1.5m.
- Pre letting expenses relief for landlords being extended to the end of 2027.
General Infrastructure
- Government has agreed the Apple money - €13bn - should be used across water, electricity, transport and housing as four key pillars.
- Additional €1.7bn euro in 2025 for infrastructure projects including €400m to the National Broadband Plan.
International Protection and Ukrainian Refugees
- 400 additional staff for the International Protection processing system
- €2.1bN for accommodation for Ukrainian refugees.
- €25m for the community recognition fund for those integrating Ukrainian arrivals.
Education
- Free schoolbooks extended to all secondary schools
- Hot school meals programme increases to all primary schools in 2025
- School transport fee reduction and state exam fee waiver will continue.
- 1,600 new special needs assistants and 768 special education teachers to be recruited
- Money to keep schools smartphone free and allow them to buy tech to do that
- €1,000 reduction on student contribution fee. One-off 33 percent in the contribution fee for higher education.
Alcohol and Tobacco
- No increase to alcohol excise duty
- Pack of 20 cigarettes going up by 1 euro - this will bring most popular pack price to €18.05.
- A tax on e-cigarettes will be introduced at a rate of 50c per ml of eliquid. Typical vape has 2ml so average price will go from €8 to €9.23.
Healthcare
- 495 new beds for the health service.
- €336m increase in money for disability services for extra residential care beds, respite, home support hours.
- 600,000 home support hours extra.
- Increased free IVF.
- Free Hormone Replacement Therapy.
Crime, Justice and Defence
- 1,000 new Gardaí and 50 new civilian gardaí.
- 350 extra staff for the Prisons Service.
- 400 extra defence force members in 2025.
- 22 percent increase for investment in military radar and subsea surveillance projects.
- 7m for organisations tackling gender and domestic violence.
Agriculture
-- Two billion euro for Agriculture, inc. €30m for a new tillage scheme to support field crops, €10m for animal health measures, €22m for the national sheep welfare scheme, €8m to enhance payment rates on the beef welfare scheme.
- Extension to 2027 of the general stock relief, stock relief for young, trained farmers, and stock relief for registered farm partnerships.
- Flat rate scheme for farmers being raised from 4.8 to 5.1 percent.
- There will be an option for farmers and others who might be impacted by the residential zoned land tax to apply for a 2025 exemption if they want the land re-zoned to reflect work carried out.
Climate
- A €1.5bn package out to 2030 for funding research and higher education skills decarbonisation. This includes €150m increase in core higher education funding.
- €3bn for the climate transition funds. Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, water quality or biodiversity will be looked at.
- Warmer homes grants will reach ten times the funding from 2020 and will meet up to half the cost of energy efficiency upgrades.
Motoring
- The motor insurers insolvency levy will be reduced from 1 percent to 0 percent from 1st Jan.
- Carbon tax will increase on 9th October from €56 to €63.50 for petrol and diesel.
Business
- The exception to allow employers to give employees vouchers or other non-cash rewards is increasing from 1,000 to 1,500 a year
- A new Energy Subsidy Scheme for businesses worth €170m for 39 thousand firms has been agreed.
- Introduction of a partial exemption for foreign dividends for companies.
- Doubling the Employment Investment Incentive from €500k to €1m.
- A new relief for expenses incurred with listing on the Irish or European stock exchange with a cap of €1m.
- The bank levy will be extended for another year with estimated yield of €200m.
- The relief on Benefit in Kind for company cars is being extended for another year.
