TODAY’S budget aimed to please and it hit the target across a wide section of society with increases in tax bands, increases in the minimum wage, and another energy payment bonanza.
Every household will get two energy credit payments of €250 in total before the end of January 2025 while pensioners, those on disability, jobseekers allowance, and other social payments will get a weekly rise of €12 a week.
There will also be lump-sum double welfare and children’s allowance payment in October and December.
A €300 lump sum payment will be made to those on the Fuel Allowance in November, with €200 extra on the Living Alone Allowance and €400 to those on Carers Support Grant, Disability Allowance, Blind Pension, Invalidity Pension and Domiciliary Care Allowance.
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New babies will get a ‘welcome to the world’ gift of €420 paid to their parents and there will be a €15 weekly increase in maternity, paternity, and parents’ benefit.
The national minimum wage will increase by €0.80 per hour to €13.50.
The entry point for the 40 per cent top rate of tax will increase by €2,000 to €44,000 with all workers earning less than that paying 20 per cent.
The 4 per cent USC will be reduced to 3 per cent with the entry point rising to €27,382.
Personal tax credit increases will include: €125 personal tax credit, €150 home carer tax credit, €150 single person child carer tax credit, €300 incapacitated child tax credit, €300 blind person’s tax credit.
Tenants will have an increase in tax credits to €1,000 next year, which will be backdated for this year.
The National Childcare Scheme budget will increase by 44 per cent, reducing full-time childcare costs by an average of 1,100 a year.
Free school books will be extended to Leaving Certificate students and the hot school meals programme will be extended to all primary school next year.
Funding is being made available to schools for secure measures to lock away mobile phones during class times, while third level college fees will be reduced by €1,000.
The provision of an extra 495 beds across hospital and community services was announced but without detail as yet as to where these beds will be provided. There will also be an 600,000 additional home-support hours.
Free hormone replacement therapy (HRT) will be provided along with an expansion ins some areas of the free IVF treatment scheme to help with donor fertility and fertility issues for couples who have already had a child and want a second.
€7.8bn to allocated to Department of Housing with a further investment of €3bn to build more houses and address affordability problems. The total housing capital investment next year will be €15bn for infrastructure, with €2bn next year for 10,000 new social homes.
Farmers will get €13m for the new tillage scheme, €10m for animal health measures, €22m for the continuation of sheep welfare scheme and €8m to enhance payment rates of national beef welfare scheme.
Smokers will have to cough up an extra €1 in tax on a packet of 20, while 2ml vapes will now attract a tax of €1.23 per unit.
