Jorge Franganillo Jorge Franganillo

NUMBERS, NUMBERS, NUMBERS – that’s what the Budget is all about.

Adding, subtracting, tweaking, bringing new figures to the table and changing how others are used.

Here are the prime numbers from Budget 2015:

• 0 – the change in alcohol excise
• 0.6 – the percentage of the pension levy that will be abolished by the end of this year
• 1 – the date in January 2015 that the Double Irish loophole will be abolished on
• 5 – the amount in euro that the Child Benefit will increase by
• 9 – the number of euro in the Living Alone Allowance
• 20 – the maximum percentage of savings first-time buyers can get a DIRT refund on
• 25 – the percentage of the social welfare Christmas bonus
• 40 – the percentage that the top rate of income tax has dropped to
• 40 – a packet of 20 cigarettes will increase by this much in cents tonight
• 55.5 – the amount in millions of euro that will be spent on tackling homelessness (including a €10m boost)
  
• 200 – this many extra gardaí to be recruited
• 2,500 - the number of social housing units for 2015
• 12,000 – the entry point, in euro, to the Universal Social Charge

Read: LIVEBLOG: Budget 2015>

Read: The main things you really need to know from today’s Budget>