Budget 2027: Measures put public finances on worse trajectory, State watchdog warns

Key points

• Minister for Finance Simon Harris and Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers have unveiled Budget 2027
• Reductions in tax for middle-income earners are worth up to €1,500 for a couple with a combined income of €100,000
• Minimum wage rises 79 cent to €14.94
• Tax-free threshold for earnings under the rent-a-room relief rises to €16,000
• A pack of 20 cigarettes increases by €1
• A personal income tax package of €1.3 billion has been announced
• Temporary reduced fuel excise rates extended until February 28th, 2027
• Help-to-Buy applicants can now claim up to €35,000 in back taxes to help fund a first home, up €5,000
• The standard capital gains tax has been cut from 33 per cent to 31 per cent
• The tax-free threshold for inheritance tax from parents to children increases by €20,000 to €420,000
• The tax-free threshold a homeowner can earn from renting a room rises from €14,000 to €16,000
• The student contribution fee has been reduced by €150, bringing the maximum fee per third level student to €2,350
• Ifac has strongly criticised the budget, warning it puts the public finances on ‘a worse trajectory’

Main reads

• Budget 2027 main points
• Budget calculator: How this year’s measures will affect your income
• Cliff Taylor’s analysis: Money has been sprayed everywhere but it’s hard to find a central theme
• Consumers can save up to €50,000 tax free in new personal investment accounts
• Conor Pope: This is Schrödinger’s budget – simultaneously generous and mean
• Budget Q&A: Submit your questions to our expert panel on budget day
• Eoin Burke-Kennedy: Meaningful tax cuts or token measures? Key budget measures assessed
• Pensioner’s budget takeaway: No ‘plush holiday’ but some welcome measures
• All inheritance tax free thresholds rise in Budget 2027 but no other reforms
• Budget families: a ‘keep more of what you earn’ budget: but are the savings enough?

Thank you for following our live budget coverage today. We’ll be back tomorrow with all the latest budget news, reaction and analysis. If you have a query for our expert budget panel, please submit it here as they will begin answering your questions from 7am Wednesday morning.

New investment accounts not a ‘get rich’ scheme - Harris

The planned new personal investment accounts are “not a get rich scheme”, Tánaiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris has said, as he also raised the prospect of a future phase of the scheme allowing people to set up accounts for their children.

Harris was speaking at a post-budget press conference where he was asked about the possibility of increasing the €12,000-a-year contribution limit and what would be included in the second phase of the scheme, writes Political Correspondent Cormac McQuinn.

He noted that phase one “only started today”, and on the level of contributions allowed, added: “What’s the aim here? So this is not a SSIA scheme. It’s not a get-rich-quick scheme”.

“This is a scheme to build up financial resilience in the years ahead.”

Harris said: “I was always very clear that this was not about wealthy people getting wealthy and I don’t know or represent that many people who are in a position to save in an investment account, after their bills, in a cost-of-living crisis, 12 grand a year.

“So I think that limit is significant. I think it’s helpful to have a 12 grand limit that somebody might come into a once-off thing. You could come upon as a gift or inheritance.

“You know, different things can arise and give people that flexibility.”

He also said: “There’s a duty to care when we’re in a country where participation rates in retail investments have been very very low.”

On phase two of the scheme, Harris said: “let’s not jump over phase one” but added: “different things are being suggested by different people”.

“The idea of an account for your children, some countries have done that. That’s certainly something that could be considered in due course.”

He said there is also the idea of specific accounts to target specific social issues or parts of the economy and he has “an open mind on all of that”.

Chambers responds to ‘full-on Musk’ claim

The “sole motivation” in setting up a new Public Spending Efficiency Taskforce“ is to try and deliver better services for people and build a better State”, Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers has said.

He made the remarks at a post-budget press conference as he responded to Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger’s claim that he had gone “full-on Musk” to announce a US Doge-style [Department of Government Efficiency] operation in the public sector, writes Political Correspondent Cormac McQuinn.

Chambers noted that he and Coppinger share the Dublin West constituency and said “both of us see the challenges that face many families around public service delivery, where we’ve seen an exponential increase in spending in the last five to six years, but not necessarily a level of delivery that people expect”.

He added “we shouldn’t just have a conversation about efficiency, reform, and delivery, at a time of economic contraction where we have a big fiscal deficit and it’s a very negative cycle.

“How can we use a period of growth of a general Government surplus to drive better efficiency of spend for every area of public expenditure.

“I think it’s smart budgeting. It’s better management of our public finances.”

He continued: “ultimately, my sole motivation here is to try and deliver better services for people and build a better State that works better in communities across the country”.

“And we know that in different areas of spending, that’s absolutely possible, where it’s scrutinised in a more extensive way, and ultimately that creates space to do more in a budgetary cycle where we’re moderating day-to-day spending.”

Speaking earlier in the Dáil Coppinger also said the efficiency taskforce would be news to public sector workers “taking to the streets” next week, and she accused Chambers of arrogance in his approach to the threat of industrial action amid the row over talks on a new public pay deal.

Chambers denied public sector workers should be concerned about the efficiency taskforce, saying “public servants want to work in organisations that are organised to deliver better”.

Inheritance allowance proposals described as ‘tax break for the wealthy’

Government proposals to increase the inheritance allowance from €400,000 to €420,000 for sons or daughters, before capital acquisition tax is applied, will benefit just three per cent of the population, Sinn Féin’s David Cullinane has said.

He said the measure showed Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael “represent a cosseted, privileged class”.

Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon introduced the financial resolution on the inheritance tax allowance in the Dáil, which he said would come into effect from midnight on Tuesday, writes Parliamentary Correspondent Marie O’Halloran.

A second bracket includes siblings inheriting from a brother or sister, where the allowance increases from €40,000 to €44,000 before tax is applied, with an increase from €20,000 to €22,000 for anyone else. The measure was accepted by 96 to 65 votes.

Cullinane said it was a tax break for the wealthy and privileged, which was vehemently disputed by Independent Ireland TD Ken O’Flynn who called for equality for those leaving their estate to nieces and nephews.

He said there are 300,000 childless couples in this country and “there is something seriously wrong when you have bought your home, paid your tax, you can leave the property to a niece or nephew but the house will be sold to pay the tax”.

The Cork North-Central TD said: “I don’t believe there is any difference between a son or daughter, or niece or nephew or someone who has loved you all your life.”

The measure also penalises single people, he said. He added Sinn Féin talked about millionaires and the wealthy but he said “this affects a lot of people in this country” and he described Cullinane’s remarks as “disingenuous”.

His party colleague Michael Fitzmaurice said TDs had been approached over the last number of years by people who never got married or had no family, or by same sex couples “and there is a frustration out there that they are not being treated equally”.

He added: “We need to listen because there were a considerable 300,000 people who “don’t have a next generation” and want to help a niece or nephew who may not have a house to get on the property ladder.

People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy said, however, the main inequality relates to a small number of people who are passing on a major inheritance.

He said the €400,000 increase to €420,000 will benefit just three per cent “at a time when 40 per cent of parents” say they have to cut back on food for their families.

Murphy added that if people are passing on a farm or a business, that tax is written down by 90 per cent with an allowance before tax of €4.2 million.

But Independent TD Michael Healy-Rae criticised his argument, saying people were not going to sell off the farm and go “heading off to the Bahamas”.

“On paper the land may look like it is worth a lot but unless you are disposing of an asset it is only a way for you to make a living,” he added.

All types of spending are not the same - Tánaiste

At a post-budget press conference Tánaiste Simon Harris responded to criticism from the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (Ifac) of the Government’s spending plans, writes Political Correspondent Cormac McQuinn.

Ifac responded to the budget saying it “puts the public finances on a worsening trajectory by repeatedly breaking established spending limits and increasingly relying on high-risk corporation tax”.

In response, Tánaiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris said Ifac had an important role to play, and added it is a reminder to avoid “group think or the herd mentality”.

However, he also said he does not believe that “all types of spending are the same” adding: “when you make a decision to invest in capital, that is in many ways a saving because it is investing in public infrastructure. It is an asset that the State has”,

He also pointed out that the Government is putting an extra €1 billion into the Future Ireland Fund and said the the Coalition continues to run a general general Government surplus.

Harris said the tax package does go beyond what was announced in the Summer Economic Statement, but said: “That is our right as a democratically elected Government, and we’ve done that on the basis of the energy proposals that we brought forward” to respond to the energy crisis.

“I think the citizens in this country quite rightly expect us and indeed require us to take measures on both the tax and expenditure sides to try and help with that.”

Harris said the reliance on corporation tax is “a real concern, and I think they’re [Ifac] right to say that”.

“That’s one of the reasons why we are trying to actually build up the funds.

“It’s one of the reasons why we’re investing now in infrastructure.”

He said it is one of the reasons why the Government has to “prepare for a time when our public finances won’t look like they do today.”

Harris also said there are efforts to build up indigenous industry citing the announcement of an extra €1 billion to be invested by the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund to help “scale up the next generation of Irish companies”.

Some approved for Help to Buy ‘do not need it’, Dáil told

Some 41 per cent of approved claims for the Help to Buy housing scheme “are for people who do not need it”, Labour housing spokesman Conor Sheehan has claimed.

He was speaking during a Dáil debate on the financial resolution introduced by Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke to increase the level of support to first time buyers by €5,000 to €35,000, writes Parliamentary Correspondent Marie O’Halloran.

The increased grant was accepted by 92 to 68 in the first financial resolution vote.

In the debate, the Minister said 69,000 Help to Buy claims had been approved from 125,702 applications, with a total value of €1.6 billion.

He said the level of support was worth €35,000 or 10 per cent of the cost of the home, or the amount of income tax or Dirt paid in the four years before the application for the relief in the scheme.

Burke stressed “it ensures taxpayers get more of their money back while buying a house”.

But the Labour spokesman asked why the Government was “ignoring all of the available evidence” from the Parliamentary Budget office, the ESRI and the Central Bank, who warned it would result in increased house prices.

Sheehan said it was a “direct wealth transfer” to private developers.

“We know that 41 per cent of approved claims are for people who do not need it.”

Sinn Féin’s David Cullinane said Help to Buy “is a demand side subsidy” which “clearly doesn’t work”, and he told the Minister “you’re putting in place a scheme that “drives up prices”.

He said house prices increased by €25,000 last year and the same the previous year.

Social Democrats housing spokesman Rory Hearne highlighted his “serious concerns this will inflate house prices further”.

He pointed out that in 2020 the median house price was €250,000 and is now €396,000. “Fianna Fail and Fine Gael in Government have added €146,000 to the cost of a house”, he said, but it seemed the Government had reduced the investment in affordable housing by €200 million.

People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy said it was not a help to buy scheme, but a “help to profit” scheme for developers. He said the funding “temporarily passes through the hands of buyers but ends up in the hands of developers”.

Sinn Féin housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin claimed the €5,000 increase was to save the Minister for Housing from embarrassment after he had called for a €20,000 increase in the scheme.

He said Minister for Finance Simon Harris had said he did not want to do anything that would increase the price of houses. “What changed?” the Dublin Mid-West TD asked.

Ó Broin believed it was to give the Minister for Housing “cover to say he got something”.

Irish Aid budget ‘should be cut’

Independent TD Carol Nolan said the Irish Aid budget should be cut in light of the crisis affecting Irish families, writes Parliamentary Correspondent Marie O’Halloran.

She said the Government had opted for a series of incremental measures to deal with the cost pressures facing carers and ordinary families while the budget allocation to the Department of Foreign Affairs was €1.3 billion.

“Of that, $85 million euro is allocated to overseas development and international cooperation programmes, and some of the countries that are included in that aid have a record of human rights abuses.”

The Offaly TD was “very concerned about that” and said the Irish Aid budget should be cut when she had pensioners in her office “every day of the week are telling me how difficult it is to make ends meet. And these are people that worked all their lives”.

People stretched ‘to the extreme limit’, says Independent Ireland leader

Independent Ireland leader Michael Collins said people are being stretched “to the extreme limit” by the cost-of-living crisis, writes Parliamentary Correspondent Marie O’Halloran.

He said the Government does not appreciate the depth of the “crisis situation” for people.

Citing one consumer’s experience, he said a woman saw her weekly shopping bill go up “at least 17 or 18 quid in one week and she got the same list and the same shop as she did the week before”.

Criticising the €10 increase in the weekly State pension, he said it was “nowhere near” what is required, adding that pensioners are afraid to turn on the lights because they are “experiencing savage expense every week”.

Private sector workers should also go on strike, says Boyd Barrett

People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett said there is “no good reason” in the budget for workers to stop their plans to go on strike on October 14th and 21st, over public sector pay, writes Parliamentary Correspondent Marie O’Halloran.

He said: “This Government has given them less than nothing in this budget when you look at how the tax changes relate to the actual increase in the cost of living.

“Even by the Government’s own budget book, nobody is getting more than about 1.5 per cent and many are getting less than one per cent.”

The Dún Laoghaire TD said more than two million workers “will not benefit at all from the changes in the higher tax band. They will not get anything from that. They will get something from the USC change but you are talking at best about 1.5 per cent and in some cases, only 0.5 per cent when inflation is currently running at 3.9 per cent and projected to be about 3.5 per cent.”

Boyd Barrett said workers needed a pay increase of about 10 per cent “just to keep pace with inflation and they have got nowhere near it. ‘Get your placards ready’ is what I am saying to workers. ‘Get out on those pickets’.”

He added: “It should not just be the public sector workers who are going on strike, it should be the private sector workers as well.”

Public finances on ‘worse trajectory’, says budgetary watchdog

The State’s budgetary watchdog has strongly criticised the Government’s budget, warning it puts the public finances on “a worse trajectory”, while increasing the State’s reliance on “high-risk corporation tax”.

The criticism from the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council comes as the Department of Finance projected corporate tax revenue will rise to nearly €45 billion by the end of the decade.

That projection is on the basis Ireland will benefit from the new minimum global rate for multinationals and as companies exhaust allowances for domiciling assets here.

In its critique of Budget 2027, Ifac said spending increases net of tax measures have been running “at a blistering pace in recent years”.

It noted that a “sustainable speed limit” of 5 per cent for both was set in 2021. “But governments have since budgeted for around 6 per cent growth, before actually delivering about 10 per cent a year on average, double the speed limit,” the council said.

If overruns continue on their current trajectory, net spending will increase by 9 per cent this year, it warned.

Read the full article here.

Chambers gone ‘full-on Musk’, claims Coppinger

Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger claimed Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers had come into the Dáil and gone “full-on Musk” to announce a Doge-style [Department of Government Efficiency] operation in the public sector, writes Parliamentary Correspondent Marie O’Halloran.

She said: “He’s setting up this Public Spending Efficiency Taskforce that will monitor on a daily basis, scrutinise day-to-day spending, making greater efficiencies.

“That will be news now to the tens of thousands of public sector workers who are going to be taking to the streets next Wednesday. And let’s face it, there is nothing in that budget.

“It was so high-handed and arrogant of Minister Chambers to call on them not to go ahead with the industrial action when he never once mentioned how he’s going to deal with pay for public sector workers.”

In his budget speech, the Minister said, over the past year “I have introduced stronger expenditure controls, greater scrutiny of how staff resources are deployed and a renewed emphasis on accelerating infrastructure delivery”.

He stressed: “Reform can never be an occasional exercise or a response to emerging pressures. It must sit at the heart of everything we do.

“And through the Accelerating Infrastructure Taskforce, we have made great strides on infrastructure reform this year. And I believe we can emulate this when it comes to day-to-day spending.

“Therefore, it is my intention to establish a new Public Spending Efficiency Taskforce whose mandate will be to extensively scrutinise day to day public spending.”

He said it would “identify areas across public spending where there is scope to drive greater efficiencies and it will recommend specific actions that can deliver better services and greater value for money”.

“I have asked my officials to establish this taskforce, with terms of reference to be finalised and work to commence within three months.”

Analysis: What are the key takeaways from Budget 2027?

A central talking point in the lead-up to Budget 2027 was whether the Government’s promised tax cuts for middle-income earners would be meaningful or just a partial hedge against inflation, writes Economics Correspondent Eoin Burke-Kennedy.

If the tax bands and credits, which determine how much individual workers pay in tax, are not adjusted for wage inflation each year, then workers end up paying proportionately more in tax to the exchequer.

In the end, workers got a higher-than-expected tax break than initially signalled. The point at which people pay the higher 40 per cent rate of income tax is to be increased by €2,500 to €46,500 while personal, employee and earned income tax credits will increase by €125 to €2,125, reducing the liability for all earners.

Read the full article here.

Policy on cost of fuel ‘absolutely bonkers’, says Tóibín

Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín described the Government’s policy on the cost of fuel as “absolutely bonkers”, writes Parliamentary Correspondent Marie O’Halloran.

He said if a worker pulled into a petrol station and puts €100 in his or her tank, €45 in excise duty “will still go to the Government”.

The Meath West TD added: “Given the fact that petrol is around €1.97 for petrol and €2.20 for diesel (a litre) at the pump, it is this Government’s expressed plan to increase diesel by 32 cents and petrol by 27 cents a litre from next February.

“That is absolutely bonkers. The Government also intend to hike carbon taxes on petrol and diesel, not once, but twice next year. It is absolutely unbelievable.”

He asked: “Are the Government living in a parallel universe?”

Almost nobody will be better off in 2027, writes Conor Pope

The Government and its money Ministers, Simon Harris and Jack Chambers, will go to great lengths to highlight how people will benefit from the raft of measures announced in the budget, writes Consumer Affairs Correspondent Conor Pope.

But, despite all the money spent, it’s clear almost nobody will be better off in 2027.

Geopolitical unrest and the spike in the price of pretty much everything will more than cancel out the welfare and allowance increases, as well as the tax changes central to what could be termed Schrödinger’s budget – one which is simultaneously generous and mean.

The big winners – if that’s not too strong a word – will be couples in a household where both people earn more than €50,000 a year.

Read the full article here.

Healy-Rae hits out at Opposition’s alternative budgets

Independent Kerry TD Michael Healy-Rae made his first speech in the Dáil since he was assaulted in Dublin while sitting in his car in traffic in Dublin on September 16th, writes Parliamentary Correspondent Marie O’Halloran.

The former minister of state for agriculture who resigned over the national fuel protest crisis defended much of the Government’s budget and hit out at the Opposition’s alternative budgets.

He said if they were relying on the Opposition’s proposals “we’d be in a very dire place”.

He said: “For 15 or 16 years we’ve had the same thing being thrown out all the time. It’s a case that this is wrong and that is wrong.”

Healy-Rae compared the Opposition’s complaints to the weather. He said “if it was a fine day they’d say there was something wrong, that we might get sunburn”.

He welcomed the commitment to no further carbon tax increase for the duration of this Government but said the reduction on home-heating oil and extension of the fuel subvention “would be so quickly evaporated by the high cost of living”.

The cost of fuel “really has to be looked at”, he said.

“It is a problem, it is contributing to the cost of living.”

On agriculture, he also welcomed the extension of the fuel subvention scheme but said there were people who did not qualify for the scheme and he believed “there is tweaking that could be done there” to allow farmers and contractors currently excluded to allow them to apply for the subvention.

Healy-Rae, who served for just over a year as a minister of state, pointed to his area of responsibility and said investment in forestry “seems to have stalled and not been increased”, when it should have and “that is of concern to me”.

Ibec welcomes budget’s ‘emphasis on workforce transition’

Ibec, the group representing Irish business, welcomed Budget 2027’s “strong emphasis on workforce transition and praised the decision to unlock €150 million from the National Training Fund".

The group was “disappointed by the Government’s decision to accept the Low Pay Commission’s recommendation for an increase which is almost double what most businesses were forecasting for 2027.”

Ibec also welcomed the introduction of the Savings and Investment Scheme, which “creates opportunities for savers to see a better return on their money and has the potential to generate capital investment.”

Fergal O’Brien, executive director of policy, lobbying, and global affairs said: “while much of this budget commentary will focus on household supports, the decisions around AI and innovation are vital to future-proofing our economy and workforce opportunities.

Government will be ‘forced to do a U-turn,’ says O’Gorman

Budget 2027 points to a Government “that doesn’t see and doesn’t understand the impact that the cost of energy crisis has for large parts of our society”, Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman told the Dáil, writes Parliamentary Correspondent Marie O’Halloran.

He criticised the Government’s failure to make provision for targeted energy credits “the most effective way of providing immediate support to those who are desperately struggling, as well as to those in the squeezed middle”.

The Dublin West TD said: “I’ve no doubt that the Government will be forced to do a U-turn and bring in energy credits at some point this winter.”

He also hit out at the “significant rhetoric around energy transition” that provided nothing “to help households reduce their use of expensive oil and gas”.

‘Budget fails to prioritise homelessness,’ says Focus Ireland

Focus Ireland said: “Budget 2027 fails to prioritise homelessness or even discuss the crisis despite a record of nearly 18,000 in emergency accommodation.”

The organisation said that while it is welcome that homelessness was acknowledged in this year’s budget, the measures announced “fall far short of what is needed to address the crisis”.

It noted that over the period since homelessness was last referenced in a budget speech, the number of children experiencing homelessness has risen by 46 per cent, from 3,991 in October 2023 to 5,830 on Tuesday.

Mike Allen, director of advocacy at Focus Ireland, said: “In such a massive giveaway budget there are some things to welcome, but the overall conclusion is that the Government has decided that homelessness is something it has no answers for.

“This budget shows that groups that make the biggest noise receive the greatest attention, but families experiencing homelessness are focused on finding stability and caring for their children.”

‘Soundbite Harris and Jack GPT,’ says Nash

Labour finance spokesman Ged Nash described Minister for Finance Simon Harris and Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers as “soundbite Harris and Jack GPT”, writes Parliamentary Correspondent Marie O’Halloran.

He described the budget as one for those who already have “a few bob in the bank” and said the Tánaiste had “some hard neck” to describe it as a “workers’ budget”, especially “after leaving them out last year”.

He said the cliched phrase “‘the people who get up early in the morning’ was brought off the bench ahead of this budget for the pre-match warm-up. But those waking up this evening for the night shift will be sorely disappointed with what they’ve heard from Government this afternoon.

“Far from being a budget for those who get up early in the morning, this is a budget for those who can afford the bloody good lie-in. A budget for those who are already have a few bob in the bank, who can afford to save thousands of euro and where their money is burning a hole in their pockets.”

He said it was a budget that “does the business for the lucky few who inherit a bit of cash”.

The Louth TD said Ireland in 2026 is a rich country but it is a country “that’s full of contradictions, unprecedented numbers of people at work alongside growing, shameful child poverty, and deprivation, climbing inequality, set against overflowing tax revenues, embarrassing public service gaps after a decade”.

His party colleague Marie Sherlock said “there’s a serious whiff of a parallel universe” that the Government is inhabiting “when we look at the terms of the detail of this budget”.

Pointing to the sports budget she said “it sits uneasily with me” that at a time when there is “enormous need across in clubs” and when so many “cannot access sports capital grant, they’re allocating €14 million to bring rich yanks” to Adare Manor next year for the Ryder Cup.

She loved sport and loved watching golf “but I believe that that amount of money is a seriously scandalous amount of State support to that event”.

Budget ‘falls short of what is needed to support family carers’

Family Carers Ireland said Budget 2027 “falls short of what is needed to support family carers and fails to respond to the growing care challenge facing Ireland”.

While welcoming measures that will provide some additional support to carers, Family Carers Ireland said the overall package “falls short of what is needed to address the financial pressures, cost-of-living, lack of respite and growing demand for care facing families across the country”.

It said the failure to abolish the carer’s allowance means test represents “a missed opportunity”.

Sharon Foley, chief executive of Family Carers Ireland, said: “While there are some welcome measures in today’s package, many family carers will struggle to see how this budget changes the reality of their everyday lives.

“For too many families, the pressures remain the same. Rising costs, inadequate services and little or no access to respite.

“This budget asks family carers to continue carrying huge responsibility while offering too little in return.”

Calculator: How will this year’s budget affect your income?

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New personal investment accounts: Here’s how they will work

People will be able to put €12,000 a year tax-free into the Government new personal investment accounts, Minister for Finance Simon Harris announced in his Budget 2027 speech, writes Deputy Business Editor Dominic Coyle.

The accounts will feature a low tax rate of just 1 per cent. However, this tax will be levied on any amount in the account over a tax-free threshold of €50,000, not just the profit the account made over that year.

This holds out the prospect of people paying tax on their savings in years when they lost money simply because the balance of their account was above the €50,000 tax-free threshold.

Harris said the new accounts will be available from July 1st next year. About €170 billion is currently on deposit in Irish bank accounts, with the Minister having previously described that money as “sitting idle”.

Read the full article here.

Budget ‘represents a failure’ to protect ‘most vulnerable’

The Government was accused of having “no idea” of the impact its decisions make “by the simple stroke of a pen”, writes Parliamentary Correspondent Marie O’Halloran.

Social Democrats TD Aidan Farrelly said “there’s something deeply unethical about Government Ministers, consistently briefing journalists every time you’ve had a nice idea”.

The Kildare North TD said in the budget process over the last number of months Government parties are “all too busy fighting with each other over who gets to announce sports capital grants”.

“You’re fighting with each other over culture cards for young people, about pensions, excise cuts, childcare costs, all the time knowing that you’re not just playing a game between yourselves, but you’re playing a game with people’s realities.”

The party’s education spokeswoman Jen Cummins said the Government promised to reduce student contribution fees. “This year, we see there’ll be a reduction for those with siblings and whose families earn less than €120,000.

“You are not sticking to your promise of reducing this. Last year you reduced the fees by €500, but the previous year it was €1,000. And now this year it’s going to be €150.”

She said what the Government is giving students is “materially nothing” and “what this Government is doing is playing with words, because the maths is not mathing”.

This budget “represents a failure to protect the most vulnerable”, according to Social Democrats social protection spokesman Eoin Hayes.

He said it should be the “most important and urgent work of Government to alleviate poverty levels” and to help the 200,000 children living in consistent poverty, but “it is this Government that falls short in that work”.

Budget 2027 Analysis: ‘Hard to find a central theme’

Budget 2027 fired money around in various directions to try to address the cost-of-living crisis and react to the demand of a whole range of sectors, but you would search hard to find a central theme, writes Managing Editor Cliff Taylor.

Perhaps it is responding to events and that is in part understandable, given the big increases in energy prices and their impact on inflation.

But budgets are about priorities and when the package emerges from fractious last-minute negotiations between the two big parties of Government, some of these can be fudged or lost. Tactics get priority over strategy.

And the ante is inevitably upped when it comes to how much money is dispersed as both sides argue for “their” policy.

Read the full article here.

‘Families simply cannot catch a break,’ says Whitmore

The public’s cry for support with energy costs “has fallen on deaf ears”, according to Social Democrats energy spokeswoman Jennifer Whitmore, writes Parliamentary Correspondent Marie O’Halloran.

Their hopes to finally get help from the “suffocating” cost-of-living and from the “extortionate energy costs they are being crushed by” were ignored.

The Social Democrats’ proposed €400 targeted energy credit has “never been more necessary” with more than half a million people in arrears on their energy bills.

The Wicklow TD pointed to the ESRI’s calculation that families would need €480 to escape energy poverty, very similar to her party’s energy credit.

Energy companies are “upping the price” of electricity and gas “again and again” and “families simply cannot catch a break”.

She did however welcome “one area” where the Government had made progress extending the solar supports through the warmer homes scheme.

“I genuinely welcome that decision. For too long the conversation about home energy upgrades has focused solely on efficiency, while neglecting energy poverty and solar panels help both.”

‘Sinn Féin has your back,’ says Doherty

“The government’s budget can be summed up in five simple words: Gone before you get it,” wrote Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty on X.

“This was an opportunity to put workers and families first and make life more affordable.

“Instead, it leaves ordinary Irish people behind. Workers and families deserve a government that shows leadership and acts to make a real difference in their lives.

“Sinn Féin has your back. We will keep fighting your corner and working to build an Ireland that puts you first.”

People needed a ‘lifeline but didn’t get it,’ says O’Callaghan

Social Democrats deputy leader Cian O’Callaghan accused Tánaiste Simon Harris of “trying to spin” some of the social protection payments announced, writes Parliamentary Correspondent Marie O’Halloran.

He said last year “you removed the €400 for disabled people. This year you announce a €500 payment and expect a round of applause.”

The Dublin Bay North TD added that after Fianna Fáil promised a €12 increase in the pension it was leaked to the media that it would be €7.50, a “cynical attempt to manage expectations and give cover for providing an increase of €10”.

Quoting the Tánaiste’s comment that “Help is on the way” he said it was “just not yet”.

He added: “For reduced child care costs, you have to wait almost another year” and accused the Government having only a plan to “cynically mess around with people who are relying on you stick to your word”.

There are hundreds of thousands of people “who had never had difficulty paying their bills” but “are now barely keeping their heads above water” and were lying awake at night worrying about keeping the lights on.

People needed a “Government lifeline but they didn’t get it”.

A targeted €400 energy credit to low income households who really need support would “provide some immediate relief and breathing room” but the Government refused to do it.

The Government had also refused to introduce a windfall tax on the “excess profits of energy companies who enjoy a bonanza as energy prices” surge.

“These bumper profits for energy companies are being made on the backs of struggling households” but the message from Government to these companies is to “let it rip”.

Do you have questions on what Budget 2027 means for you?

The Irish Times has an expert team on hand to answer your queries. You can submit your question in the form below. Questions will be answered in our Budget Q&A going live on Wednesday, October 7th.

Attempts to secure more staff for agencies rejected

Attempts by the Department of Rural, Community Development and the Gaeltacht, under Minister Dara Calleary, to secure approval for more staff for agencies under its remit have been rejected, the Government’s Expenditure Report states, Public Policy Correspondent Martin Wall writes.

The report, published on Tuesday as part of Budget 2027 says: “Requests for additional staffing across the agencies under the department’s remit have been denied for 2027, with a focus on ensuring agency efficiency and a consolidation of delivery within available resources”.

The report says that staffing levels in the various agencies that come under the department would be maintained at 2026 levels.

The report says that any additional payroll costs limited to increments and wage agreement costs for existing personnel in these organisations.

‘This is a budget for families,’ says Taoiseach

In a post on X, Taoiseach Michéal Martin wrote: “this is a Budget for families, for workers and helping people with rising costs.”

“We’re putting more money back in workers’ pockets.

“Supporting families and carers with the cost of childcare and disability.

“Easing the burden of fuel and energy costs for those who need it most.”

What can homeowners relying on home heating oil expect?

The carbon tax currently adds around €137 to the average annual gas bill including VAT at 9 per cent, writes Consumer Affairs Correspondent Conor Pope.

Now that the rate has been reduced to €48.50 per tonne of CO2, it will cost households around €105 a year. So that’s a saving of around €30 to €35 a year.

Had the rate increased to €100 over the coming years as previously planned, this would have seen the average household having to pay just over €200 a year in carbon tax to heat their home with gas, according to Daragh Cassidy of price comparison and switching website bonkers.ie

By pausing the hike, households will “save” around €100 a year and or those who use home heating oil, the savings are slightly higher.

“Households currently pay around €180 in carbon tax to fill a 1,000-litre oil tank,” Cassidy said. “The reduction in the carbon tax to €48.50 will see this fall to around €135. So that’s a saving of around €45 per fill.”

He noted that if the rate had gone up to €100, “this would have seen households having to pay over €280 in carbon tax alone per fill. So by pausing the hike, households will save around €145 per fill.”

He pointed out that gas and oil prices “are already close to double the levels they were at only a few years ago. And a near record number of households are in arrears on their energy bills.

“I don’t think this is the time for the Government to make it even more expensive for people to heat and light their homes.”

Farrell: Public sector workers ‘condemned’ to ‘becoming poorer’

Sinn Féin public expenditure spokeswoman Mairéad Farrell told Minister for Finance Simon Harris to “give me a break” when he spoke about “people who get up early every morning and work hard”, reports Parliamentary Correspondent Marie O’Halloran.

Highlighting the intensifying row about the public sector pay deal, she criticised the Government’s stance to go “without negotiating a pay deal with the hardworking people who get up early and go to work in our public services”.

She said it was “actually outrageous that the State generates billions of euro in surpluses but at the same time, this Government is condemning our nurses, teachers, gardaí and all other public sector workers to becoming poorer”.

Their wages “are being entirely eroded by the cost of living” and “these hardworking people have been pushed to take industrial action by this Government”.

Addressing Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers directly, she claimed “you refuse to sit down with the unions to discuss pay. What absolute arrogance.”

She pointed to the Government’s first act in office in 2025 when it voted for “a bumper €16 million pay rise for those on the Government front branches. Yet you have the brass neck to deny our nurses, our teachers, and gardaí a fair pay deal.”

The Minister has said public sector workers are “unwilling to sit down and engage” with the Government on a new national pay deal, and that unions have pre-emptively pushed ahead with industrial action when they could be in negotiations, as more than 100,000 civil and public sector unions began a work-to-rule.

Analysis: Budget ‘spread a little thin, but a hairshirt it is not’

Stand back from it, and there’s no shortage of contradictions between Ireland and the wider world highlighted by Budget 2027, writes Political Correspondent Jack Horgan-Jones.

While other governments grapple with cutbacks or marginal growth, Ireland plans to grow spending. Others run deficits – Ireland throws ad-hoc billions at cost-of-living measures and still plans for growing surpluses, while adding €1 billion to futureproofing funds.

The Department of Finance’s economic outlook spells it out: warnings abound of instability and volatility caused by conflict, the risk of corrections in global equity markets and of a “dark shadow” on Ireland’s key export markets.

But despite the inflation hit to households and the undoubted hardship it has brought, the average household in Ireland still saves a fifth of its income. “The weight of evidence points to consumer spending remaining relatively robust in the near term,” the mandarins predict.

The avalanche of announcements masks the choices that are being made – or perhaps, not made. Hundreds of millions will continue to be spent on energy supports, whether in additional spending or foregone tax revenue: Minister for Finance Simon Harris told the Dáil that decisions today mean the carbon tax rate will be less than half of what was set out originally.

€186 million will be foregone in a full year delivering a cut in capital gains tax. Income tax has been cut, spending goes up in many areas.

The budget, Jack Chambers said over the summer, would be the tightest for years – and yes, it feels spread a little thin, but a hairshirt it is not.

Last year the Coalition faced accusations of overdelivering for interest groups like builders and restaurateurs – there is a clearer seam of retail politics running through this budget, with multiple measures aimed at individuals, not sectors. And it is made possible by the economic moment Ireland finds itself in.

Is it enough? The proving ground will be in the cold weeks and months ahead. And if that gap between Ireland’s experience and the rest of the world’s begins to narrow, harder choices may come.

Arts and culture vouchers for teenagers absent from Budget

One item absent from the Ministers’ speeches was the proposed €100 voucher for teenagers to spend on arts and culture events, writes Ian Curran.

Minister for Culture Patrick O’Donovan had hoped to roll out the “culture card” scheme in Budget 2027 for 16-year-olds and extend it to 17-year-olds in Budget 2028.

Overall, the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport has also had its annual allocation reduced from more than €1.5 billion in 2026 to just under €1.3 billion.

This relates to a decrease in the department’s capital allocation from €701 million to €450 million, which “reflects the successful completion of the National Broadband Plan project” this year, according to budget documents published today.

Meanwhile, the department’s current allocation has been increased by 2.7 per cent to €848 million.

Student contribution fee permanently reduced by €150

For third-level education, the student contribution fee has been permanently reduced by €150, bringing the maximum fee per third-level student down to €2,350, writes Education Correspondent Niamh Towey.

This follows some confusion over previous days, with a €250 cut first mooted before doubt was cast over whether any reduction would be included.

The €150 cut will therefore be welcomed by some, but falls far short of the €500 reduction sought by student unions in advance of the announcement.

Other measures targeted at students and their families include a new student contribution fee grant for families with more than one child in higher education and an increase in Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) maintenance grant rates by 4.5 per cent from January.

Another measure that could help third-level students is the increase in tax relief available to those who let out rooms in their homes under the rent-a-room scheme.

This tax relief will increase from €14,000 a year to €16,000 a year, in the hope this will in turn encourage more people to open their homes up to students seeking accommodation.

All electric vehicles will avoid vehicle registration tax increase

The decision to increase most vehicle registration tax (VRT) rates by 1 per cent will affect prices for nine of the 10 best-selling models on the Irish new car market this year, writes Motoring Editor Michael McAleer.

Cars with CO₂ emissions over 80g/km will see a 1 per cent increase in VRT, impacting tax bands three to 20. That emissions level means most regular hybrids will be hit with the tax rise, but most plug-in hybrid (PHEV) versions and all EVs will avoid the increase.

The change will see VRT increases on prices for the Toyota Yaris Cross, the current best-selling new car, along with the regular Yaris hybrid model.

The second most popular model on the market, Hyundai’s Tucson, will also face a tax rise, though its plug-in hybrid version (PHEV) with emissions of up to 73g/km avoids the increase.

Other models facing price increases to regular and hybrid cars include the Skoda Octavia, Kia Sportage, Skoda Kodiaq and Toyota Corolla.

‘Budget for Scrooges,’ says Farrell

Sinn Féin public expenditure spokeswoman Mairéad Farrell described Budget 2027 as a “budget for Scrooges”.

This time last year the Government chose to make people’s lives harder and people literally took to the streets because they couldn’t take it anymore, she said. They did this because “never before has this State been so rich but people feel so poor”.

The prices of fuel in forecourts were “unacceptable in April and they remain unacceptable now”. Farrell said the Government must reduce the price of diesel and petrol by another 10 cent a litre.

A cost-of-living package was needed “but that was ignored”, she said. The Government could have given €500 to help families get food on the table but “you chose to do nothing”.

The majority of workers don’t pay the higher rate of tax and won’t get a single cent. She reiterated her party’s call for the USC to be abolished on the first €40,000 of income.

Youth unemployment is increasing and is predicted to rise further.

The Galway West TD quoted Tánaiste Simon Harris who had said “I want to abolish college fees. I’m now committed to getting rid of the student contribution fee”.

It was his first budget and “you have abandoned that promise”.

She added “delays are synonymous with our apprenticeship system” with on-the-job training.

She pointed to one young apprentice who was due to begin his on-the-job training in January 2025 but was told it was cancelled and he would “have to wait for an indefinite period of time to access this training”.

He “has now finally received notice and is set to begin training 22 months after he was originally supposed to start. That is not good enough.”

This was the same for apprentices across all trades and there were other problems such as accommodation, with them being sent across the country rather than close to home.

Accommodation and travel allowances must be doubled, she said.

“It would not be tolerated for a law degree or medical degree to take two years longer than a student signed up for and it should no longer be tolerated for apprenticeships.”

The Government has set aside an additional €1.2 billion in 2027 to address any increases in the public sector pay bill, including any extra costs associated with the deal that concluded in June.

That would translate into an increase to the pay of public and civil servants of about 3.5 per cent in the first full year of any new national deal.

Doherty says Taoiseach has ‘taken the wrong side’

Addressing Taoiseach Micheál Martin directly he said house prices had gone up on his watch, as had rents and “you’ve taken the wrong side” in giving more tax breaks to landlords.

“What have you done instead? You’ve given renters a miserly €150 increase in tax relief.”

The consequences of the Government’s choices “is to be seen by everyone. We have over 5,000 of our children homeless in one of the wealthiest countries in the world.”

The Government continues to break the law because 23,000 children are waiting more than the four months for an assessment of need and many are waiting two years “that they cannot get back again”, Doherty said.

He said €19 million was provided for 500 SNAs in February “so how can €29 million pay for 2,339 of them today that you claim”, the Sinn Féin spokesman said.

Doherty: Housing crisis urgency ‘nowhere to be seen’ in budget

If the Government understood the pressure people were under, the Minister would acknowledge that people, particularly in rural areas, need their cars and would reduce diesel and petrol by 10 cent a litre and green diesel by another 17 cent, the Sinn Féin finance spokesman said.

Pearse Doherty said in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis the €250 was “an absolute insult”. He asked if the Ministers “genuinely believe that the €250 works for them” in the income tax package.

He claimed the urgency in the housing crisis “is nowhere to be seen in this budget”. He said people are postponing having children because they have nowhere to raise them in a secure place they can call home.

First time buyers are typically approaching the age of 40 before they can buy a home. That’s probably the “worst indictment” of Government.

Government ‘detached’ from real life of ordinary workers

Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty accused the Government of being “detached” from the real life of ordinary workers and their families.

His party’s budget offered a package that would make life affordable including abolishing the USC for those earning less than €40,000.

The economy is growing “but it has to serve the people of Ireland’s budget”.

It was a “missed opportunity” and record numbers were in energy arrears and one in four could not pay their gas or electricity bill. Sinn Féin had called on the Government to give a €400 energy credit, to halt standing charges and to levy data centres. But the Government failed to do that.

The Government had made clear the side it had picked and it was not for ordinary workers.

Less than €50 of a reduction on home-heating oil is “an insult”, Doherty said. If the Government got rid of carbon tax it would be worth €200 to people. “You say we’re protecting them with fuel allowance.”

The €5 is far too low and the increase is calculated on 28 weeks when the fuel allowance season is 32 weeks.

He said that was real “brass neck” treatment and would result in people being €12 worse off.

Workers and families will ask ‘am I any better off?’, says Doherty

Sinn Féin finance spokesman Pearse Doherty said it was clear the Government did not understand the pressure on families and workers.

Workers and families will ask “am I any better off”. This budget completely failed that test, he said. Budgets are about choices and “time and time again” Government is “hell-bent on life harder with the choices you make”.

He said the Government talked about €750 back in taxes but the majority “won’t get a sniff” of that amount because they don’t earn enough. They will only get €250, he said.

It amounts to just €5 a week for ordinary workers and families.

He said summed up the budget as: “Gone before you get it.”

He hit out at the €10 for the pension because it would not cover the inflation of rising prices and they would be “worse off”.

Which departments to get most funding to build things?

Almost €20.3 billion will be allocated for capital investment, ie delivering housing, transport infrastructure, health facilities and schools, writes Political Correspondent Cormac McQuinn.

So which departments are getting the biggest sums? And what are they to be spent on?

The Department of Housing and Local Government is to get some €7.421 billion, the largest chunk of capital funding.

A total of €5.6 billion will go on housing – of which €3 billion is for social housing delivery – including 11,250 new build homes, according to Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers.

More than €1 billion will be allocated affordable housing supports to help deliver 8,500 starter homes in 2027.

Another €1.5 billion in capital funding will go towards water infrastructure, including new water and wastewater connections to enable the delivery of new homes.

The next highest capital funding allocation – €4.175 billion – goes to the Department of Transport.

Some of this will be spent on the 2027 costs of the MetroLink rail project linking Swords to Dublin city centre via Dublin Airport.

Chambers said that between 2027 and 2030 some €6 billion will go towards progressing this project, which is of “unprecedented scale”.

Funds will also be used to progress projects such as Dart+ and BusConnects, as well as road projects like the M28 Cork to Ringaskiddy motorway.

There will be €1.72 billion for health projects, including the further development of digital health, beginning the main works on the relocation of the National Maternity Hospital, and closing out the snagging of the new National Children’s Hospital building.

The Department of Education is to get €1.6 billion in capital funding and it will facilitate additional capacity and modernisation of schools.

More than €1 billion is being allocated to the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment including funds to progress the development of offshore renewable energy and district heating projects.

The overall €20.3 billion for capital spending is an increase of €1.1 billion over what was allocated for 2026.

Jack Chambers concluded by saying “we have an opportunity to turn today’s prosperity into something more enduring”.

He added: “We cannot know precisely what Ireland will look like in 20 or 30 years but we can decide whether we enter that future prepared. And that is the purpose of Budget 2027.”

Culture and Arts funding will include €34.4 million for the basic income scheme for artists and almost €89 million for national cultural institutions and funding for the Fleadh Cheoil to be held again next year in Belfast.

The first laughter was provoked when Jack Chambers said “those of us lucky enough to be in Croke Park and indeed the whole country will never forget – or most of us – how they felt in those final seconds as the clock ticked down on Mayo’s 75 year wait for All Ireland glory”.

It was a prelude to a budget announcement of €1.3 billion for Culture, Communications and Sport including €4 million for League of Ireland football academies, €1m extra for the Gaelic Players Association; and €1m ring-fenced for the hurling and camogie academy initiative.

Agriculture is the “heartbeat of every corner of Ireland, supporting almost 160,000 jobs”, Jack Chambers has said.

The fuel income support schemes are being extended to cover a further five-month period this year at a cost of €31.2 million.

The Department of Agriculture will be funded to the tune of €2.3 billion in 2027. It includes €8.4m for animal health and welfare policies, including horse and greyhound welfare measures and the animal welfare strategy.

There will be €32m for the new fertiliser scheme, €4m to support the tillage sector “and the environment” and €20m for the fisheries sector.

The Shared Island programme will receive €200 million. This funding will go towards the completion of the Narrow Water bridge linking the Cooley peninsula with the Mourne Mountains and the commencement of a new teaching building at Ulster University and phase three of the Ulster Canal restoration.

The funding will also go towards upgrades in the rail infrastructure between Dublin, Belfast and Derry.

The defence budget will receive €1.6 billion, a rise of almost nine per cent to increase personnel by 850 next year. €340 million will go towards two new helicopters and the military radar programme.

On health, an extra €1.6 billion is going to Department of Health to provide an increase in the HSE pay budget to support frontline and community workforce growth “within agreed pay budgets”.

It will also go to 1.8 million home support hours and reform of GP services including better out-of-hours services.

Free contraception will also be provided to people aged up to 37.

The public service’s ambition must go beyond using new technology to redesign services to make public services better and easier to access, Jack Chambers has said.

He is providing €17 million to the Digital Transformation Fund next year alongside ongoing investment of €9m in Government digital infrastructure.

The funding “will support the delivery of simpler, more connected and more accessible public services”.

A total of €14.4 billion will be allocated to the Department of Education and Youth to provide a €17 million increase to the capitation funding for schools.

This is worth an extra €68 for each primary student and a €40 increase for each secondary school pupil.

An extra €2 million will go to the DEIS Plus programme and €3m for an extra 100 home schools community liaison co-ordinators to improve outcomes for children at risk of educational disadvantage.

‘You deserve a government that puts you first,’ says McDonald

“Today is the 96th budget delivered by a Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael led government and it hasn’t shown you the respect you deserve,” wrote Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald in a post on X.

“You deserve a government that puts you first, puts more money in your pocket and gives your family a fair chance to build a future here at home.

“We can make different choices.

“Ireland’s best days lie ahead. There will be a day when the budget respects you and your families needs,” she said.

The fuel allowance will increase by €5 and the income threshold for fuel allowance for single pensioners will rise from €534 to €641 a week.

The living alone allowance will increase by €3, benefiting 260,000 people.

On social protection, the minister has confirmed a €10 increase in the weekly social welfare rates, which will benefit 1.6 million people.

A new cost of disability payment of €500 to benefit 240,000 people has also been announced. The carer’s allowance income disregard will rise to €1,150 for a single person and €2,300 for a couple.

On water, €2.3 billion is to be allocated to Uisce Éireann in 2027 to support the “significant programme of investment and to accelerate the delivery of new and existing water infrastructure”.

Of this investment, €1.5bn in capital funding will go to build essential capacity and increase resilience in the water supply.

It will also go to new water and wastewater connections and deliver upgrades to wastewater treatment infrastructure.

The minister said the funding will go to more than 400 projects across the State including:

- the Eastern and Midlands Region Water supply Project

- the Greater Dublin Drainage Scheme

- Wastewater treatment plan upgrades in Limerick and Waterford

The new Public Spending Efficiency Taskforce will have the job of overseeing spending levels and oversee public spending.

It will recommend specific actions that deliver better value for money and will be established within the next three months.

This is being presented as a core part of Jack Chambers’ efforts to clamp down on departmental overspending.

There is going to be a big emphasis on efficiencies in the expenditure report with departments and agencies expected to cut down on spending with requests for additional staff expected to be denied in some departments.

“I have asked my officials to establish this taskforce, with terms of reference to be finalised and work to commence within three months,” he said.

Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers has opened his speech stressing “we live in the shelter of one another”. At full employment and with strong finances “our economy continues to grow”.

He said with prosperity there are choices and with those choices comes responsibility.

Success must be measured in the homes built, childcare places created and reduced hospital waiting lists, he said.

‘You don’t build resilience by being reckless,’ says Simon Harris

Concluding his speech, the Tánaiste said the Government is responding to uncertainty in bond and energy markets by “building up our national resilience”.

He said “you don’t build resilience by being reckless. You do it by setting out a path that is ambitious but achievable.”

That path is “centred around people, that rewards hard work risk-taking and innovation”, he said.

Harris reiterated the State “cannot do it all but must do what it can to help people in the here and now and plan for the future.”

A pack of 20 cigarettes will increase by €1 with pro-rata increases on other tobacco products. The duty on e-liquid products (vapes) will increase by 20 cent per millilitre.

On agriculture, Harris said family farms are “the glue that bonds rural communities together” and he is removing the three-year holding period for applications for Succession Farm Partnerships for applications made from January 1st, 2027 onwards.

The Minister is increasing the “associated tax credit that is available for five years from €5,000 to €10,000”.

In measures to reduce the “too many accidents and injuries on family farms” the Government will extend the “accelerated wear and tear allowance for farm safety equipment by three years to December 31st, 2029”.

Vat on respiratory vaccines for livestock will be reduced from 23 per cent to 9 per cent.

The Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) is launching a €1 billion investment programme, aimed at creating the next generation of large Irish companies, the Tánaiste has announced.

This is ISIF’s “biggest ever investment in scaling and it will be a three-year programme running up to 2030”. He said they want Irish businesses to remain rooted in Ireland but to allow them to “scale-up and grow internationally”.

Help-to-Buy applicants can now claim up to €35,000 in back taxes to help fund a first home, up €5,000.

However, there is no increase in the value of eligible properties from €500,000 which rules many Dublin homebuyers out of the scheme.

Rural pubs will get €15 million to “keep our pub doors open”, Simon Harris has said.

He and the Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke will “develop a scheme which will help assist our publicans”.

On childcare, Harris has said costs are “still to high for many families”, and the tax exemption will be increase from €5,000 to €20,000 to “endeavour to increase supply and to remove the limit on the number of children who can be minded under the relief”.

He has also confirmed the tax-free threshold a homeowner can earn from renting a room is rising from €14,000 to €16,000.

It will be extended to include newly installed detached auxiliary dwellings between 32 and 45 square metres, to apply retrospectively from July 27th.

Vehicle Registration Tax relief for electric vehicles will be extended for another two years until December 31st, 2028.

But the tax for “more pollutant cars” in bands 3 to 20 will increase by one per cent to “incentivise purchase of low emissions cars”, said Harris.

The Minister for Finance has also confirmed the extension of the temporary reduced fuel excise rates until February 28th, 2027, with a “gradual and responsible restoration” of excise in four phases with complete restoration by June 30th.

The Government has announced a personal income tax package of €1.3 billion, the Minister for Finance Simon Harris has said.

This includes raising the standard cut off point by €2,500 to €46,500.

On the new personal investment account, people will be able to save up to €12,000 a year, with no tax on funds up to €50,000. Anything over that will be taxed at one per cent per annum, regardless of whether the fund makes a profit or a loss in a given year.

New personal investment accounts will be available from July 1st of next year.

Government has heard ‘loudly and clearly’ about importance of personal income tax package, says Tánaiste

Minister for Finance Simon Harris has just started speaking to the Dáil chamber.

It is one of the rare occasions in which the House is almost full. Harris begins by saying it is the second of the Government’s budgets and the path being set out is an “optimistic one for Ireland”.

He said “we have heard loudly and clearly about the importance of a personal income tax package”.

“People are working hard. People are doing their best,” he said.

Harris said there have been four and a half years of full employment, “the longest stretch ever” with 53,000 jobs to be created next year.

Budget 2027 will be announced very shortly with Minister for Finance Simon Harris to begin speeches, followed by the Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers. Follow irishtimes.com for all the updates.

The Leinster House campus has been quiet with no protesters on Kildare Street, reports Harry McGee.

That may change closer to 1pm when Simon Harris stands up to read his first budget as Minister for Finance.

It has been raining steadily all morning and that might have contributed to the slightly subdued mood around the place.

It is certainly not a subdued budget with an overall package worth €8.5 billion of extra spending, brining overall spending in 2027 to an eye-watering €118bn. As we speak Harris and Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers are doing a photocall at Government Buildings.

Some of the Opposition parties have been doing doorstep interviews out of the rain under the portico that links Leinster House to the newer extension at LH 2000.

Ciaran Ahern of the Labour Party criticised the mooted measures to address high fuel prices and pushed his party’s suggestion of a €800 targeted energy credit.

He also argued that the decision to suspend carbon tax on home heating fuel was “tokenistic” as it would only reduce the price of a €1,500 tank fill by between €40 to €50.

The party’s disability spokeswoman Laura Harmon said there was unhappiness among disability groups about the once-off cost-of-disability payment of €500 as they have called for recurring weekly payments of €55, which would be essential to achieve levelling up for people with disabilities.

The Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman has also called for targeted energy credits but also says that the budget should have set aside significant capital investment to allow households make the transition to renewable forms of energy and reduce their dependency on oil, gas and diesel for heating and transport.

It has also called for a €70 million payment to the National Transport Authority (NTA) to allow it cancel proposed fare hikes averaging 15 per cent.

Budget to be formally unveiled within the hour

Formal proceedings will start at 1pm when Minister for Finance Simon Harris presents the budget to the Dáil, followed by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Jack Chambers presenting the public expenditure side of the equation.

The Opposition spokespeople will then get a chance to reply at length and at volume.

In the afternoon, Ministers will hold a series of briefings outlining how the budget will impact their departments. The Dáil will then take a break and resume at 8pm to hear financial motions, and to vote on any financial, welfare or excise measures that need to be implemented immediately.

The health budget has been a perennial flashpoint

The Government has already revised up spending forecasts for this year by €700 million, and most of this relates to additional health spending. But the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council is warning the overspend could hit €1 billion by the year’s end, reports Economics Correspondent Eoin Burke-Kennedy.

A key thing to examine is whether these overruns are baked into next year’s health budget or not. And whether the Government will signal adequate rises in the health budget in the later years, ones that account for ageing and inflation.

“Spending overruns have become routine and have repeatedly pushed spending above budget-day plans,” Ifac chairman Seamus Coffey noted in an Oireachtas committee last month. “Over the past decade, spending overruns have averaged more than €2 billion per year in today’s terms,” he said.

Although public conversation will largely focus on those who benefit most from Budget 2027, hundreds of thousands of people across the State might not see much difference in their personal finances at all, says Consumer Affairs Correspondent Conor Pope.

While much of the talk in the hours and days ahead will be the impact of the tax changes on incomes higher than €44,000 and the €10 per week increase in welfare and pension payments as well as the money spent on supporting those on lower incomes to heat and light their homes over the winter months, there will be one cohort that will see many of the tax benefits and welfare supports pass them by.

As many as 400,000 people earn between €35,000 and €44,000 – and, as such, they will probably be taking home too much to benefit from the increase in allowances and too little to benefit from the widening of the lower rate tax band from €44,000 to €46,500.

These people will see their tax burden fall by €250 annually as a result of the increase in two distinct tax credits by €125 each they will see marginal gains from the changes to the ceiling on the second USC band but that will be pretty much that.

It’s one of the great days in the parliamentary calendar, when public attention is focussed on Leinster House more so perhaps than any other day in the year. Bookies take bets – or they used to, at any rate – on the colour of the Minister’s tie: on what other occasion do people pay such attention to the Minister for Finance, never mind what colour of his tie? People pay attention because they know what politicians announce on Budget Day has a direct and material effect on their lives, writes Political Editor Pat Leahy.

There’s two budget ministers nowadays, of course. When the economic crash destroyed the credibility of the previously all-powerful Department of Finance, the public spending function was transferred to the new Department of Public Expenditure which means that a lot of wrangling with the spending departments now falls to that Minister, currently Jack Chambers. For much of the last few weeks, his colleagues have been bitching about Chambers – a sign that he has not yielded to many of their demands. For his colleague, the Minister for Finance Simon Harris, this is his first budget. It all kicks off in the Dail at 1pm, with Harris’s speech. He will be followed by Chambers and then by Opposition spokespeople.

Recent decades have seen all sorts of different budgets. Charlie McCreevy enjoyed his “Champagne Charlie” phase in the 1990s and early 2000s, when – in his own words – he had it and he spent it. But when McCreevy sought to slow the pace of spending growth, he was replaced by Brian Cowen who went with the flow and expanded public spending on the back of tax receipts that would prove to be precarious. Giveaway budgets became instead grim prescriptions of austerity; angry protests gathered outside the gates of Leinster House to decry the crimes committed inside.

That period lasted for more than half a decade. When the economy bounced back in the mid-20-teens, politicians began to spend the money generated by burgeoning corporation tax receipts. Into the 2020s, that trend has only accelerated. The last ten budgets have all seen very significant giveaways. There’s more on the cards today.

Politicians all say that the public is demanding help with rising costs – and no doubt that’s true. Outside Leinster House, there’s no sign of any protests. It’s bucketing down rain on Kildare St; inside the gates, however, politicians are hoping the economic weather doesn’t change.

Budget 2027 is to be announced by Minister for Finance and Tánaiste Simon Harris in two hours time. Irish Times photographer Dara Mac Dónaill is outside the gates of Leinster House, where security preparations are already underway.

Keep following this live blog for rolling updates of the day’s events.

The budget should put Ireland on track to break €100 million in funding for high-performance athletes in an Olympic cycle for the first time.

Extra funding will be provided for Sport Ireland to support the development of Gaelic Games, in particular to develop hurling and camogie in non-traditional and urban areas, reports Jack Horgan-Jones.

An additional €1m is expected for the inter-county player support scheme to support elite Gaelic Games players.

There will also be another €1m (10 per cent increase) for the reconciliation fund run by the Department of Foreign Affairs, which funds community groups in the north with a focus on cross community engagement.

Further 79 cent increase in minimum wage expected

The Government is expected to agree to a recommendation by the Low Pay Commission for a further 79 cent increase in the minimum wage, which would bring the current rate from €14.15 per hour to €14.94.

However, the introduction of a living wage - to replace the minimum statutory rate - is expected to be pushed out again, reports Eoin Burke-Kennedy.

Last year, Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke announced a three-year delay to the introduction of the living wage, pushing the target date out from 2026 to 2029. This is now likely to be moved again.

The minimum wage has become a major flashpoint with worker advocates demanding relief from the high cost of living and business groups warning of severe labour cost pressures.

Increase expected on box of cigarettes and disposable vapes

The last few budgetary measures are now leaking out, reports Jack Horgan-Jones.

It now looks like most workers will get a €125 tax credit (two in a double income household) and there will be a €100 home carer credit increase.

The ceiling for the second USC band (two per cent) will go up €1,600 to €30,300, targeting lower earners. The capital gains tax will go down two per centage points.

The tax free threshold for earnings under the rent a room relief will rise to €16,000.

An increase of up to €1 on a box of 20 cigarettes is also expected as is a 20 cent per ml tax on vapes, adding about 40 cent to a small single use disposable vape.

The reduction in kerosene costs will be for the lifetime of the Government.

The €200m levy on the banks will reappear in Budget 2027, the same level as 2026.

The era of Charlie McCreevy – where nobody had a clue what he was going to announce until he stood up in the Dáil – is well and truly gone, writes Harry McGee in this morning’s political digest.

The chances of a decentralisation style announcement today are as remote as Rockall.

The full digest can be read here.

What will the income tax changes mean?

Our consumer affairs correspondent Conor Pope has been crunching the numbers. He writes: The big winners - if winners isn’t too strong a word for it - from this afternoon’s budget are likely to be couples in a household where both earn in excess of €50,000 a year.

The entry point for the higher rate of income tax is set to rise from €44,000 to €46,500, which will save such households a total of €1,000 over the course of a year.

An increase of €125 in the personal tax credits will see the income tax bill for the couple fall by a further €250.

Budget package to include support for hosting Ryder Cup and Euro 2028

There will be €22 million in the budget package to support hosting the Ryder Cup in 2027 and co-hosting the 2028 European football championship.

There will also be an overall increase of €5m for current Irish language spending which will go towards Gaeltacht and language support schemes and language planning.

It will include funding of €1m to be provided for North-South co-operation to support the work of Foras na Gaeilge.

Current funding for island transport services will increase by €1.5m to €13m.

Capital expenditure continues for projects such as Inis Oirr pier, Conradh na Gaeilge headquarters on Harcourt Street in Dublin and Colaiste Lurgan in Indreabhán, Co Galway.

We have some more details on the new savings scheme mooted by Minister for Finance Simon Harris over recent weeks.

The monthly limit for contributions will be €1,000, reports Cliff Taylor. This will be more than most people could afford but will limit the pace at which people can transfer existing investments.

The one remaining piece of information awaited is the total level of investment people can hold in the scheme before the special one per cent tax on the balance kicks in.

Low income families will be supported, says public expenditure minister

Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers has outlined the Government’s priorities for the budget as he arrived into Government Buildings this morning.

“We’re using our social protection system to support low-income families, particularly those facing significant cost pressures,” he said. “This has been a priority in all the budgetary discussions, and I think you’ll see that reflected later on.”

Asked about prospective industrial action by public sector employees, he said: “I’ve been absolutely clear for weeks and months that we want to reach an agreement on public sector pay. We want industrial peace, and I urge trade union representatives to return to the table and begin constructive discussions.

“Industrial action is causing significant disruption to the public, and that disruption will worsen if matters continue to escalate. I’ll be making provision for and prioritising public sector pay in the decisions we’re making, and I hope those negotiations can now move forward.”

Help to buy scheme and rental tax credit due to be increased

In terms of housing, first-time buyers will be able to access up to €35,000 towards the deposit on their first home, under the Help-to-Buy scheme. This increases the limit by €5,000.

The rent tax credit, currently amounting to €1,000 per year, is expected to be increased. A higher level of €1,200 per person was under discussion.

The tax-free rental income allowance is also expected to be extended to backyard cabins.

Modest increases to the three inheritance tax thresholds are expected.

Everything we know so far about Budget 2027 can be found here.

The main late budget change is in income tax, writes Cliff Taylor.

The Government had downplayed the potential gains here, talking of €400 a year for a single employee.

However, as Pat Leahy reported this morning, the numbers have grown. This was always likely given the size of the tax package.

The combination of a €2,500 rise in the income level at which people become liable for the higher 40 per cent tax rate and increases in the main tax credits will mean around €750 extra for a single middle earner and €1,500 for a two-income couple.

USC and PRSI changes will need to be counted in to come to a full tally.

The final budget negotiating sessions at Government Buildings on Monday came after protracted and often difficult negotiations over the weekend at which Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers came under pressure to concede to spending requests from several departments.

Chambers has insisted on sticking to a ceiling of a 6 per cent spending increase across Government as a whole, which has meant many Ministers have seen increases for their departments set at considerably lower than this because of higher increases in some big-spending departments. However, supplementary estimates – ie, budget top-ups – will still be necessary this year.

You can read more about that here.

Alongside live news updates, analysis, newsletters and videos, The Irish Times will have an expert team on hand to answer your questions in our Budget Q&A on irishtimes.com.

Do you have queries around income tax bands and what the end result will mean for your net pay? Or would you like to know about your specific situation when it comes to welfare rates and pensions? If so, Dominic Coyle of The Irish Times will be joined by Beryl Power and Ruth Gilligan from PwC to answer your questions.

The form to add submissions will be added here later today.

The Government will unveil another giveaway budget, which will include reductions in tax for middle-income earners worth up to €1,500 for a couple with a combined income of €100,000.

In addition, it is expected there will be small reductions to the existing 33 per cent rate of capital gains tax.

The tax-free threshold for inheritance tax from parents to children is expected to increase by €20,000 to €420,000, though some of these details were still being hammered out late on Monday night.

The restoration of excise on petrol and diesel, due to begin on November 1st, is expected to be postponed until March 1st, while significant reductions in carbon tax on home heating oil will also be announced.

You can read our lead budget story here and everything we know so far about the budget here.

Good morning. Budget day is finally upon us. Minister for Finance Simon Harris and Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers will announce Budget 2027 in the Dáil from around 1pm today.

Follow irishtimes.com for updates throughout the day.