The Finance Minister has taken to his feet in the Dáil to announce Budget 2025.
TDs have been filing into the Dáil chamber, ahead of Jack Chambers’ first budget as Finance Minister.
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14:31 – UKRAINIANS
€2.1bn for accommodation for Ukrainian refugees.
€25m for the community recognition fund for those integrating Ukrainian arrivals.
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14:29 – OVERSEAS
€35m extra to the Global Ireland strategy.
€810m to overseas development and aid.
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14:29 – MEDIA
€328m to media funding – including €6m for the independent broadcasting sector.
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14:28 – ARTS
€380m to Arts and Culture.
€107m to the Gaeltacht.
€226m to Tourism.
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14:27 – DEFENCE
22% increase in the capital money for defence to invest in military radar and subsea surveillance projects.
400 extra Defence Force members in 2025.
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14:26 – JUSTICE
350 extra staff for the Prisons Services.
1,000 Gardaí and 50 civilian Gardaí.
400 additional staff for the International protection processing system
€7m for organisations tackling gender and domestic violence.
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14:25 – TRAINING
A €1.5bn package to 2030 for funding research and higher education skills decarbonisation
This includes €150m increase in core higher education funding.
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14:22 – AGRICULTURE
A new Energy Subsidy Scheme for businesses worth €170m for 39k firms has been agreed.
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14:22 – AGRICULTURE
€2 billion for Agriculture.
€30m for a new tillage scheme to support field crops.
€10m for animal health measures.
€22m for the national sheep welfare scheme.
€8m to enhance payment rates on the beef welfare scheme.
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14:18 – CORK
A financing agreement to extend the Port of Cork’s quay side berth at Ringaskiddy has been agreed.
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14:16 – CLIMATE
Warmer homes grants will reach ten times the funding from 2020 and will meet up to half the cost of energy efficiency upgrades.
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14:16 – CLIMATE
€3bn for the climate transition funds.
Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, water quality or biodiversity will be looked at.
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14:15 – HOUSING
€90m to retrofit 2,500 social homes in 2025.
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14:14 – TOWNS
€186m new funding to regenerate towns and urban areas.
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14:13 – HOUSING
€3.2 billion in capital funding for the housing sector.
10,000 new build social homes at a cost of €2bn in 2025.
€680m for key affordable housing schemes.
10,000 new households under the HAP and RAS schemes in 2025.
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14:11 – BROADBAND
Additional €1.7bn euro in 2025 for infrastructure projects including €400m to the National Broadband Plan.
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14:10 – APPLE
Government has agreed the Apple money should be used across water, electricity, transport and housing as four key pillars.
Investment framework being developed.
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14:09 – HEALTHCARE
495 new beds to the health service
600,000 home support hours extra
Increased free IVF and new free HRT.
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14:07 – SCHOOLBOOKS
Free schoolbooks extended to all secondary schools.
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14:07 – SMARTPHONES
Money to keep schools smartphone free and allow them to buy tech to do that.
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14:06 – TEACHERS
1,600 new SNAs and 768 special education teachers to be recruited.
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14:05 – DISABILITY
€336m increase in money for disability services for extra residential care beds, respite, home support hours.
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14:04 – CHILDCARE
National Childcare Scheme budget to increase 44% leading to full time childcare costs reducing by an average of €1,100 a year
The number of children availing of the scheme will increase to 216,000.
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14:03 – WELFARE
Two double payments of child benefit will happen in November and December.
€400 lump sum on the working family payment this year.
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14:02 – WELFARE
An October and a Christmas social welfare double payment will be made.
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14:02 – BABIES
A baby bonus of €420 to be paid for each newborn child
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14:01 – SCHOOLS
Hot school meals programme increases to all primary schools in 2025.
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14:01 – LEAVE
Maternity, paternity, adoptive and parents leave rise by €15.
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14:00 – CARERS
Increase to carers allowance disregard to €625 for a single person and €1,250 for a couple.
Increasing domiciliary care allowance by €20.
Increasing carers support grant by €150.
Enabling carers allowance to be an enabling payment for fuel allowance.
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13.59 – STUDENTS
€1,000 reduction on student contribution fee.
Once off 33% in the contribution fee for higher education.
Increase in the Post Grad Tuition fee by €1,000 for student grant recipients.
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13.58 – EDUCATION
School transport fee reduction and state exam fee waiver continue.
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13.57 – ALLOWANCES
€300 to those on fuel allowance in November.
€200 euro extra on the living alone allowance.
€400 to those on carers’ support grant, disability allowance, blind pension, invalidity pension and domiciliary care allowance.
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13.56 – ENERGY
250 euro electricity credit in two parts – one before the end of the year and one after.
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13.50
Jack Chambers has concluded the Budget announcement. Paschal Donoghue has now taken to his feet to speak.
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13.47 – CIDER
The excise relief on small cider and perry producers extended.
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13.46 – MOTOR
The motor insurers insolvency levy will be reduced from 1% to 0% from 1st January.
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13.45 – ENERGY
The VAT rate on heat pumps is to be reduced from 23 to 9 per cent.
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13.44 – CARBON
Carbon tax will increase on 9th October from 56 to 63.50 for petrol and diesel.
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13.43 – VACANCY
Vacant homes tax to rise from 5 to 7 times the local property tax rate from November.
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13.42 – STAMP DUTY
Increased stamp duty on high value residences.
From tonight there will be a 6% rate of stamp duty on properties worth more than €1.5m.
Rates 1% up to €1m, 2% of up to €1.5m, 6% over €1.5m
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13.41 – BANK LEVY
The bank levy will be extended for another year with estimated yield of €200m.
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13.40 – STAMP DUTY
Stamp duty on bulk purchases of homes by investment funds rises from 10% to 15%.
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13.39 – E-CIGARETTES
A tax on e-cigarettes will be introduced at a rate of 50c per ml of e-liquid.
Typical vape has 2ml so average price will go from €8 to €9.23.
From middle of next year.
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13.38 – FARM
Pack of 20 cigarettes going up by €1.
Pro-rata increase on other tobacco products.
Brings most popular pack price to €18.05.
From midnight.
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13.37 – FARM
There will be an option for farmers and others who might be impacted by the residential zoned land tax to apply for a 2025 exemption if they want the land re-zoned to reflect work carried out.
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13.36 – FARM
Flat rate scheme for farmers being raised from 4.8% to 5.1%.
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13.36 – FARM
Extension to 2027 of the general stock relief, stock relief for young trained farmers, stock relief for registered farm partnerships.
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13.34 – FILM
Tax credit on unscripted production at a rate of 20% on expenses of up to €15m for the audiovisual sector.
€20m for film productions under the 481 tax credit.
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13.34 – RELIEF
A new relief for expenses incurred with listing on the Irish or European stock exchange with a cap of €1m.
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13.33 – BUSINESS
The Employment Investment Incentive will be doubled from €500,000 to €1m.
Increasing reliefs on start-ups for entrepreneurs,
Increase the lifetime limit on gains for angel investors in innovative start ups from €3m to €10m.
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13.32 – BUSINESS
Introduction of a partial exception for foreign dividends for companies.
Increase in the first year of the R&D tax credit from €50,000 to €75,000.
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13.30 – ELECTRICITY
The 9% rate of VAT on gas and electricity is being extended six months to 30th April 2025.
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13.29 – HOUSING
Pre-letting expenses relief for landlords being extended to the end of 2027.
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13.28 – HOUSING
The Help to Buy scheme is being extended until the end of the decade.
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13.28 – TAX
The relief on BIK for company cars is being extended for another year.
It’s €10,000 euro on the original value of the car.
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13.25 – TAX
Payments to women under the Cervical Check payment scheme will be exempt from tax.
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13.25 – EMPLOYMENT
The exception to allow employers to give employees vouchers or other non-cash rewards is increasing from €1,000 to 41,500 a year.
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13.23 – INHERITANCE
Inheritance tax increasing from €335,000 to €400,000 for a parent.
€32,500 to €40,000 for Group B
€16,250 to €20,000 for Group C.
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13.22 – TAX
Blind tax credit to increase by €300.
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13.21 – CARERS
Increase in the Carer Tax Credit by €150
Single person child carer credit will be up by €150, incapacitated child credit by €300 and dependent relative credit by 60.
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13.19 – WAGES
A full-time worker on the minimum wage will see their net income rise by €1,424 annually.
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13.18 – TAX
Entry rate to 3% rate of USC will rise to €27,000.
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13.16 – WAGES
Minimum wage to rise by 80c to €13.50 an hour from January 1st.
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13.15 – TAX
Main tax credits will increase by €125 on personal, employee and earned income.
Higher rate of tax rises €2,000 to €44,000/
USC will see the 4% rate reduced to 3%.
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13.14
The Budget will be €8.3 billion of new money – a 6.9% rise from last year.
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13.13 – ENERGY
€750 million for electricity grid infrastructure.
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13.11 – HOUSING
A further €1.25 billion to the Land Development Agency – bringing its total funding to €6.25 billion.
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13.10 – INFRASTRUCTURE
€1 billion to Uisce Éireann for non-domestic capital investment.
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13.08 – INFRASTRUCTURE
€3 billion for water and energy infrastructure.
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13.06
The €14 billion in Apple tax revenue due to the Government as a result of the European Commission’s recent ruling has been described as “transformational” by the Finance Minister – but he says it’s crucial it’s not used for day-to-day-expenditure.
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13.03
Jack Chambers has taken to his feet to deliver his opening statement. It’s his first Budget since assuming the office previously held by Michael McGrath.
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13.02
Minister for Finance Jack Chambers and Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donoghue have entered the Dáil Chamber for what’s being called the biggest Budget since the Celtic Tiger.
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