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IT’S SEPTEMBER, WHICH means the political system in Ireland is fizzing with pre-Budget demands, requests, speculation and warnings.
Budget 2025 will be delivered by Finance Minister Jack Chambers in little over a week, setting out Government spending for the year ahead.
It will see a total of €105.4 billion in expenditure being made available, an additional €6.9 billion compared to last year.
As has come to be the norm in recent years, many of the requests from government ministers have already made their way into the public domain and government leaders have made their priorities public.
Taoiseach Simon Harris has already said the Budget will contain a pro-business package as well as a cost-of-living package for households.
Given that inflation has come down though, we have already been warned that the cost-of-living package won’t be as big as previous years.
However, ministers have indicated that we can still expect one-off energy payments and a double child benefit payment before Christmas this year.
Workers
Workers are set to be, on average, €1,000 better off after this Budget, according to the Finance Minister.
Taoiseach Simon Harris has confirmed that workers will see a “significant” income tax and USC reduction package this year.
Last year, USC was cut from 4.5% to 4%, and while it is expected that it will be cut by a further half point this year, no specifics have yet been given.
On Income Tax, it is expected that the higher-rate tax band will be further raised.
At the moment, a single person pays 20% tax on earnings up to €42,000. This was increased from €40,000 in last year’s Budget.
Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys indicated last month that there will be no increase to the Jobseeker’s Allowance, which currently stands at €232, given that Ireland is at full employment.
The minister has said pensioners, carers and people with disabilities should be prioritised as part of this Budget.
It’s expected that the pension will increase by €12 a week, the same as in the last two years, but Humphreys is under pressure from her own Fine Gael party colleagues to raise it further to €20 a week.
For now it’s unclear if she will go that far.
Humphreys has been explicit in saying she wants to expand the qualification for the Fuel Allowance so that those who are retired and over the age of 66 can avail of it.
At the moment it is only available to people over the age of 70.
No guarantees have been given, but the Taoiseach himself has said the USC surcharge on self-employed income is “unfinished business”, so watch this space.
There’s also been huge pressure from the hospitality sector for the 13.5% vat rate to be cut to 9% as was the case during the pandemic, but it’s understood that this is unlikely.
While Enterprise Minister Peter Burke and many of his Fine Gael colleagues are in favour of such a move, Finance Minister Jack Chambers is less so and looks likely to put his foot down.
Green Party leader and Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman has confirmed that the childcare budget for 2025 will be over €1.2 billion – almost double what it was four years ago when he entered the role. But don’t expect to see the cost of childcare to reduce any further as a result.
With a 25% cut in the average cost of childcare kicking in last month, further changes aren’t expected as part of this year’s Budget.
There have been strong indications that the double child benefit payment ahead of Christmas will go ahead again this year, with Humphreys hailing it “extremely popular”.
It’s also expected that Child Benefit will be increased by €10 to €150 a month.
We’ve also seen O’Gorman float the idea of a one-off €560 ‘baby boost’ payment for parents with new children, a proposal Humphreys has also backed as a “good idea”.
Whether this will be approved by Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe remains to be seen.
Last year’s Budget saw the student contribution fee paid by college students cut by €1,000, bringing the cost of one year in university to €2,000. However, this was only as a once-off.
It’s expected that the contribution fee will be cut by €500 this year by Higher Education Minister Patrick O’Donovan on a permanent basis, bringing the cost of one year in university to €2,500 for those who don’t qualify for a grant.
It’s understood that an increase to the household threshold for the SUSI grant is also on the table alongside an increase to the maximum grant on offer.
O’Donovan is understood to also be pushing for changes that would allow students to earn an extra €10,000 outside of term time, without this impacting their eligibility for the SUSI grant.
In terms of housing for students, sources have indicated that O’Donovan is pushing to get access to some of the Housing for All budget for student accommodation.
As one government source put it: “Students are 5% of the population and yet there is zero consideration of their housing needs in the Housing for All budget.”
The Help to Buy scheme, which gives first-time buyers up to €30,000 of their tax back towards a deposit for a new-build home, is currently set to end next year. It’s understood that Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien is pushing for it to be extended as one of his key Budget priorities.
It’s also understood that he is looking for the €500,000 cap on home prices to be extended to expand eligibility for the scheme.
Meanwhile, for renters, it’s expected that the rent tax credit will be increased from €750 to at least €1,000.
Plans proposed by the Green Party are currently being considered to extend free public transport to all children under the age of nine.
Currently, children under five years of age go free.
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has stated that he would like to extend the free contraception scheme for women to include 16-year-old girls. At the moment, women and girls aged 17-35 are included in the scheme.
Vapers can expect to see an increase in the cost of their vapes, with a “domestic tax” on e-cigarettes that was announced as part of last year’s Budget likely to take effect in this year’s Budget.
Smokers can expect the cost of cigarettes to increase too. Last year the price of a box of 20 cigarettes was put up by 75c, following increases of 50c every year for the previous seven years.
With the average price of a box of cigarettes now €16.75, expect to see it pass the €17 mark this October.
There’s been much debate surrounding inheritance tax in recent months, with many calling for an overhaul of the current system given the high value of houses at the moment.
Currently, children can inherit €335,000 from their parents without paying tax. Anything above this is taxed at a rate of 33%.
The Finance Minister has ruled out abolishing the tax altogether but there have been signals from the leaders of both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael that they want change of some sort.
It is expected that the tax-free threshold will rise to €400,000.
The Finance Minister has explicitly said that money will be set aside in this Budget for improving infrastructure like housing, water and energy services.
This will be paid for using the €3bn proceeds from the sale of the government’s AIB shares.
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First time I’ve seen it occupied in a while in fairness
I saw it – huge admiration to the pair for caring enough to do this…
Fair enough in my book. Well done to protesters. They’ve at the very least raised awareness about this. I for one didn’t know about the failure to compensate. Best of luck.
Me neither.
They’ll never see the “united colours” of my money!
What a dump of a store…. I’ve never seen a single thing in it I’d ever want to buy…
Apart from one Garda who was on the scene the protest seemed to be a peaceful one..
Are you suggesting the gardai would cause the protest not to be peaceful?
Occupy Wool Street?
Jeez and Dunnes workers think their working conditions are bad.
So you want to live in Bangladesh?
Chill Kevin, tragedies like this one are horrific and all I am saying is in comparative terms Dunnes workers have little to be complaining about.
Well if you compare it to footballers who have no need for qualifications and get to play football all day for 150k a week they do have something to complain about. What’s your point??
Dunnes workers don’t have to work in mortal danger to earn the right to complain about their conditions
Comparitive to denis obrien they deserve a wage increase of 100000%
My point for the third time, when you hear of awful tragedies like this where thousands perish at work it puts things into perspective how good our working conditions are here.
My minimum wage flexi hour contract severely disagrees with you
Throw away the shovel, Top Cat. You’re on a loser on this one.
He is right though Said the unpopular opinion puffin
In the first photo Benetton appears to be spelled Bennetton and in the third photo survivors is spelled Survivers… I’ll bet any takers not a single one of them can find Bangladesh on a map.
In fact I’m slightly disappointed not to see an attempt to write Bangladesh… I’m sure that would have been good for a laugh.
Have these people no jobs to go to, what about the inconvenience to shoppers, wasting police resources and so on and so forth.
How about not being a heartless tool, and so on and so forth
some waffle outta you kid !
wipe the shiite off yer lip
How about looking up sarcasm in a dictionary? In case you haven’t noticed these are the usual lines thrown out about water charge protesters.
The only thing I noticed was the shiite on yer lip
It could be worse it could be between my ears.
sorry Niall – didnt get the sarcasm at all man -
Oh Niall! I hate to say this but…!
Surprised protesters are allowed in the store.
Down with that sort of thing.
Cianan his name is Gerry Lydon not Donal.
The company’s failure to own up to the disaster and pay their contribution has nothing to do with store itself though! These protesters are jeopardising the employers and employees safety and privacy, by carelessly protesting in the middle of the store, and that is by no means peaceful. They are absolutely right to raise awareness but if they want effective results, why not contact the head office of the company itself? Why not go there and protest? What about the other stores around the country? This poorly organised protest is just an attention-seeking bid from individuals who are just protesting for the sake of it.
Hi guys. Gerry here. I helped organize and was involved with today’s protest. Just a few points : Neuromacer its easy to walk into a store that isn’t expecting. Drew go out and play with the traffic! Those talking about dunnes : Yes our lives are infinitely better but as we saw with some of the thongs they were fightong for, if employers get a taste for exploitation, in a globalized world we can feel the effect here as well as regard zero hours, union involvement etc. Anca I gonna presume your not the sort who ever actually does anything judging by the tone of your “whats the point of action comment”. While Id like to dismiss you as a waste of space, unfortunately your apathy and cynicism is quote common so to summarize getting publicity for a neglected cause is better than sitting round moaning. But as for the jeopatdizing safety and privacy, go back to sleep and stop throwing around terms! Ill see you in the morning glen. So finally nothing comes of nothing. If you care about something, put some effort in and get out there! The smallest acorns can become a big tree or at least a feature on a popular website! X.
Good on ye Gerry, hope you managed to stop them making sales today.
Because it would have damn all impact . Go up to the head office here and say, please play nicely and pay the money you owe? We all know most big corporations have to be dragged kicking and screaming to do the right thing. These people have had two years to pay the money they pledged. Time for them to be shamed into stumping up.
Hi Gerry, I dont think the Dunnes strike had anything to do with underwear.
A bottle of Lynx would get rid of them protestors! I’d say there’s an awful stink of piss in that shop at the moment.
They do make some nice clothes though
have your say