This afternoon, Minister for Finance Michael McGrath and Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe delivered Budget 2024 to the Dail. The Minister for Finance announced a total spending package of €14 billion and we have some of the main points listed below:
There will be a permanent increase to weekly welfare and pension payments of €12 supplemented by the normal Christmas Bonus paid in early December and a January Bonus payment to qualifying social protection recipients.
The following lump-sum payments are also being issued:
- €200 for the Living Alone Allowance.
- €400 for the Carers’ Support Grant.
- €400 for the Disability Support Grant, Blind Pension, Invalidity Pension and Domiciliary Care Allowance.
- €400 for the Working Family Payment.
- €300 for the Fuel Allowance payment.
- €100 Qualified Child Bonus.
Three energy credits for households of €150 each to be paid between the end of this year and April of next year.
The minimum wage will go up in January to €12.70
A packet of cigarettes will go up by 75c to €16.75
The Government is promising a further 25% reduction in childcare costs
Free schoolbooks will be introduced for Junior Cycle in secondary schools from September 2024
Families with an income of less than €100,000 will see undergraduate college fees halved from €3,000 to €1,500 this year
Child Benefit payment extended to 18-year-olds in full-time education.
Personal, PAYE and earned income tax credits will increase by €100 to €1,875.
The Standard Rate Tax Band will go up €2,000 to €42,000.
The home carer and single person child carer tax credit is going up by €100.
The USC concession for those with a medical card earning less than €60,000 per year has been extended by two years to the end of 2025.
To read the full budget report simply click the following link – FULL Budget Report
