TAOISEACH MICHEÁL MARTIN has said there will be a “very strong emphasis” on protecting families from cost-of-living pressures in this year’s budget.

He was speaking to reporters on the second day of Fianna Fáil’s Ard Fheis, which is taking place in Dublin city centre. 

Asked if Budget 2027 will be more centred on business or families, Martin said the two are not mutually exclusive. 

“We always have to have economic growth so that we can have social progress, but there will be a very strong emphasis on families, and to try and protect families, because costs are significant for families and for children in particular.”

He said the government has “a number of different mechanisms we can use to reduce pressures on families”, but did not go into detail about what they could be.

He said the last budget “did some very significant work on child support payments”, adding that there were significant increases “which probably didn’t get the big headlines”.

“There are many ways of reducing the pressure on families, and we’re going to have to have those discussions between the three parties in government, and obviously within our own party, we have discussions in terms of prioritising what’s the best way to do that.”

Martin was asked about reducing the cost of childcare to €200 per month per child, something that the Programme for Government committed to “progressively” do. There was no move on this in last year’s budget. 

“It’s a five-year Programme for Government, and last year’s budget was the first of five budgets, and I think that’s the context. We can’t do everything in one budget,” the Fianna Fáil leader said.

But he said childcare is an area that the government is considering because “it’s an issue that does impact on costs for families, families with young children in particular”. 

When pressed on what specific measures could be introduced on this, he reiterated that the coalition is working to implement all aspects of Programme for Government over the next five years.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin and members of Fianna Fáil speaking to the media outside the party's Ard Fheis. Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie / RollingNews.ie

He pointed to “unexpected events” that cause projections to be “recalibrated”, such as the war in Iran.

“No one anticipated the blockade of the Straits of Hormuz, which has resulted in a 20% contraction in energy supplies across the world.”

He said the priority for last year’s budget was infrastructure, and that the war has intervened.

We’re going to have to recalibrate in terms of next budget fundamentally to try and deal with the cost of living pressures.

Housing costs ‘still too high’

Martin was also asked about housing, which he said was “the big issue” for the government. 

He was asked what the founders of Fianna Fáil would make of the record number of homeless people in Ireland, and whether the party had lost touch on the matter. 

He said there’s been about 177,000 new housing units developed since 2020, but acknowledged “it’s not enough”.

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“We need to do more than that. We need to get to about 50,000 to 60,000 per annum, and need to be at that for about ten years to deal with what is massively increased population.” 

Martin said: “There are 2,500,000 more people living in the country than there would have been in 1926 – that creates its own pressures.

“Migration creates challenges as well in terms of the housing issue. We do need to look at the composition of the homeless issue because it is not as it was.”

He said increasing the volume of housing supply would be key, and that the government wants to build 10,000 social houses per annum “which will help structurally and in a more permanent way with the homeless situation”.

“The percentage of first-time buyers now is away up compared to four or five years ago. Costs are still too high for many.”

He added that progress was being made on affordable housing. “Policies like Help to Buy, First Home schemes are having an impact on first home buyers, are helping them, although costs are still too high for many people, we acknowledge that.”

Martin will deliver a speech to close the party’s Ard Fheis this evening.