LAST UPDATE | 6 hrs ago

CORE SOCIAL WELFARE payments, including the State pension, will see a €10 weekly increase from next year.

The increase is provided for in Budget 2027, announced in the Dáil this afternoon by Finance Minister Simon Harris and Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers.

These core welfare payments include the State Pension, Disability Allowance, Carer’s Allowance, One-Parent Family Payment and Jobseeker’s Allowance. The €10 increase is in line with last year’s increase.

The weekly increase will see the maximum payments increase as follows:

• State Pension (Contributory) – increasing to €309.30 per week from €299.30
• State Pension (Non-contributory) – increasing to €298 per week from €288
• Disability Allowance – increasing to €264 per week from €254
• Carer’s Allowance – increasing to €472 per week from €462, for people aged 66 or over caring for two or more people
• One-Parent Family Payment – increasing to €264 per week from €254 
• Jobseekers’ Allowance and Benefit – both increasing to €264 per week from €254 
• Living Alone Allowance – increasing to €25 per week from €22

All payments listed above are the maximum weekly rates available for each payment. You should check your own personal circumstances.

There is no increase to the universal €140 monthly child benefit payment, but there is an additional €6 per week for the child support payment, which is paid weekly alongside qualifying social welfare payments.

Child support payments for children under 12 will go up to €64 a week (up to €3,328 a year), and for children 12 and over, up to €84 a week (up to €4,268 a year).

A permanent disability payment of €500 has also been agreed for the first time. Announcing the measure, Chambers said it will benefit “almost 240,000 people currently in receipt of long-term disability payments”.

There will also be a €5 increase to the fuel allowance, the same as last year, resulting in a weekly payment of €43.

Advocacy groups raised concern in the run-up to the budget that this would not go far enough for older people who are “fearful” of the cost of heating their homes this winter.

As is customary, there will be a 100% Christmas bonus this year for those in receipt of social welfare payments.

Other changes

Dara Calleary goes through his department's budgetary plans. Emma Hickey / The Journal Emma Hickey / The Journal / The Journal

At a press conference at Government Buildings this afternoon, Minister for Social Protection Dara Calleary outlined his department’s budgetary measures.

The Department of Social Protection has been given a budget of €30 billion, an increase of €2 billion on last year.

On the new €500 disability payment, Calleary said his department carried out an “extensive consultation” with disabled people to get their views on what a payment should look like. He said there is clear consensus that the payment needs to be co-designed with input of disabled people, which his department is “going to do”.

“That process is taking time, more than I anticipated, but I want to try and work with people in as far as I can.”

By the end of 2027, there will be a permanent structure on the payment, he said, but in the meantime the €500 lump sum will be made in the first quarter of next year to almost 240,000 people currently in receipt of long-term disability payments.

There are also further weekly income disregards to current social welfare payments, most particularly carer’s allowance. This has increased to €1,150 for a single person and €2,300 for a couple.

A couple earning €126,000 will now be able to get a full payment without being in any way affected by the means test – up from €110,000 provided for in last year’s budget.

The Working Family Payment income threshold will also increase, by €30 a week. 

Calleary said: “I’m very happy with the budget”.

The minister said he still intends to reach a State pension of €350 per week over the lifetime of the government, but said Ireland’s ageing population has to be accounted for and all increases must be sustainable.