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>

Making a difference

A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

For the price of one cup of coffee each week you can make sure we can keep reliable, meaningful news open to everyone regardless of their ability to pay.

Support us Learn More