Budget 2025 at a glance: welfare, childcare, minimum wage and vape price hikes
01 2024 10
After weeks of build-up, Budget 2025 has come and gone.
Following the speeches from Finance Minister Jack Chambers and Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe, we take a look at the major talking points from five key areas of Budget 2025.
An income tax package worth €1.6bn was announced.
The standard rate cut-off point is to increase to €44,000 from €42,000.
As had been predicted, the USC will be reduced to 3% — with the ceiling for the 2% band increasing to €27,382.
Tax credits will rise by 21%, or €350 each.
The rent tax credit is being increased by €250, bringing it to €1,000, and €2,000 for couples in 2025.
Carer tax credit increases include: the home carer tax credit by €150, the single person child carer credit by €150, the incapacitated child tax credit by €300, the dependent relative tax credit by €60.
Furthermore, there will be an exemption to income tax, capital gains tax and capital acquisitions tax on payments made to women impacted by the CervicalCheck scandal.
There will be a €12 increase across the board to social welfare payments.
The minimum wage will be increased by 80c, bringing it to €13.50.
A universal electricity credit of €250 in two payments of €125 each — one this year and one next year.
There will be double payments of child payment in November and December and a €400 lump sum payment to recipients of the Working Family Payment.
The help-to-buy scheme will be extended out to the end of 2029.
Funding for Housing for All has been announced by Mr Donohoe, with a total of €7.8bn being allocated.
He said €3.2bn in capital funding would be provided to ramp up housing delivery and deal with “affordability constraints”.
Of this €3.2bn, more than €2bn will go towards delivering 10,000 new social homes, while €680m will be provided to affordable housing schemes to deliver 6,400 affordable homes.
Mr Donohoe describes €1.6bn in funding towards supporting 66,000 households in existing social housing tenancies as “unprecedented”.
A further €186m would go towards regenerating towns and urban areas, with an additional €23m going towards delivering Traveller community specific accommodation.
The total allocation to health has risen to €25.76bn in Budget 2025.
Funding would be allocated to deliver a further 495 beds to the health service.
These extra beds will bring the total within the health service to 18,000 beds.
There will be an expansion of access to women’s health measures, which includes increased access to IVF and hormone replacement therapy for free.
The excise duty on a packet of 20 cigarettes will be increased by €1, with a pro-rata increase on other tobacco products.
This will take the price of cigarettes in the most popular price category to €18.05. This will come into effect after midnight tonight.
A domestic tax will be introduced on e-cigarettes on public health grounds and will apply to all e-liquids at a rate of 50c per ml.
A typical disposable vape currently costs in the region of €8 and will now rise to €9.23, including Vat.
This will not come into force until the middle of 2025.
The Green Party in particular had pushed for additional childcare measures — and it secured one key one.
A so-called 'baby boost' payment will see new parents awarded a double child benefit payment. This will bring the total from the current €140 to €420.
A €400 lump-sum payment will also be given to recipients of the Working Family Payment.
The provision of electronic pouches to help make post-primary schools smartphone free will come at a cost of €9m, the ministers said.
A capital allocation of €1.3bn will support 350 building projects currently under way and a further 200 new school projects.
An additional €52m in funding will be provided for the school transport scheme, while the Government has also extended the hot meals programme to every primary school in the country.
An extension of the free schoolbooks scheme will also go up to Leaving Cert.
For third-level students, college fees will also drop by €1,000.