It’s all over now.
Bar any banana skins lurking in Budget 2024, the Coalition has unveiled a €14 billion spend-and-save package that boosted permanent spending and promised large cash giveaways.
As Political Editor Pat Leahy reports in our lead, Budget 2024 has also channeled billions in windfall tax revenues into long-term national savings and investment funds.
And with a general election due within 18 months, Minister for Finance Michael McGrath and Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohoe, responded to intense political pressure for increased spending in both permanent allocations and one-off giveaways.
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Many of the measures – the €12 welfare increases and income tax cuts - have been well flagged for weeks, as had the possibility of mortgage interest relief.
The detail of that latter measure – who will qualify and perhaps more importantly who will not - was finally revealed on Tuesday and could prove tricky for the Government.
As Jennifer Bray reports, Mr McGrath has said some people will “fall just on the wrong side” of the new mortgage interest relief scheme.
But broadly, the contents of the budget were known – if not weeks before - then in the days leading up to October 10th.
In her column Miriam Lord brands Budget Day as the “official regurgitation of the leaks”.
Of course, political correspondents wouldn’t have it any other way.
But here are seven budget measures – in no particular order - that may have gone under the radar yesterday in all the talk of ‘milluns and billuns’.
1 - More tax relief for electricity micro-generation
Do you have solar panels at home? There is to be a doubling of the tax disregard on income tax received by households who sell electricity back to the grid from January to €400.
2 - The final frontier
Funding for Ireland’s involvement in the European Space Agency (ESA) is to blast off and rise by €3.3 million. The increase is said to be a “key element of the National Space Strategy and thereby ensuring that Irish companies can secure additional contracts of a comeasurate value.” Between 2018 and 2022 the Department of Enterprise’s annual investment in the ESA has increased from €17.8 million to €30.17 million.
3 - Diplomatic missions
An extra €4 million is to go towards expanding Ireland’s diplomatic missions including funding permanent accommodation in Frankfurt, Lyon, Manchester, Manila, Miami, Rabat and Toronto. It will also be used to renew and maintain properties at longer established embassies and consulates.
4 - The new Mayor of Limerick
The establishment of the office of the new directly-elected Mayor of Limerick - with the vote due to happen next June - is to be funded from an additional €29 million being provided to local government around the country. The extra cash for the operation of county and city councils is also to be used for funding fire service provision among other areas.
5 - German Shepards and Labradors
The Garda Dog unit has been in existence for more than six decades. The dogs assist in searches for suspects of crimes and for evidence which may have been discarded. They are also trained to locate drugs. According to the unit’s website German Shepard breed are used for a wide variety of policing tasks while Labradors are good for finding drugs or explosives. An additional €20.4 million is being provided for Garda operational expenditure. It is be used to expand the canine unit as well as provide equipment for other Garda units, further fund road safety policing and enhance health and wellness measure for gardaí.
6 - Expansion of the free travel
Currently the Free Travel Scheme covers every Irish resident aged 66 and over. People with disabilities and carers aged under 66 may also qualify. The scheme is to be extended to people who are medically unfit to drive from July 2024.
7 - More staff for the President and Taoiseach
With an election due in 2025 next year will be President Michael D Higgins’ last full year in office. Some €144,000 is to be provided to increase staffing and resources at Áras an Uachtaráin for “key priorities in 2024. An extra €900,000 is being provided to the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s Department for the same purpose.
Best Reads
There is an embarrassment of riches in dedicated Budget 2024 coverage as our correspondents and reporters pore over the details.
Our consumer affairs correspondent Conor Pope writes about how mortgage holders are the biggest winners, but many other groups benefit from cuts, grants and bonuses as he outlines what the budget means for you.
In his analysis, columnist Cliff Taylor says that Budget 2024 spends and saves but wonders “how much longer will soaring tax receipts support this strategy?”
Eoin Burke-Kennedy outlines the plans for a €100 billion wealth fund to ‘future-proof’ the public finances.
The Opposition reaction is covered in Sarah Burns’ report. Sinn Féin accuses the Coalition of producing “a budget for landlords” while Labour says it is “a lazy rerun of all that was wrong with Budget 2023″.
Yesterday, Jack Horgan-Jones spoke with Ministers Michael McGrath and Paschal Donohoe after they delivered Budget 2024. Watch the video here.
And Conor Pope looks at the budget in 90 seconds in this video.
Away from the budget, the war in the Middle East dominates the news as we report this morning that the death toll in Israel and Gaza has risen to 2,000 amid the ongoing conflict with Hamas.
Playbook
Dáil proceedings are due to begin with Minister for Justice Helen McEntee taking Parliamentary Questions.
Leaders’ Questions is at noon.
Government business begins at 12.34pm with leaders’ speeches on the budget.
There is a general budget debate from 4.54pm.
Independent Senators are bringing a motion on Disability Allowance in the Seanad at 2.30pm.
The Committee on Health will be considering the Mental Health Commission’s recent review of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (Camhs) with representatives of the Commission from 9.30am and the HSE from 11am.
The Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media will be looking at inclusion in sport with witnesses from Sport Ireland, the GAA, FAI and IRFU at 1.30pm.
The Committee on Agriculture will examine the challenges facing the fruit and vegetable industry in Ireland from 5:30pm.
The full Dáil, Seanad and Committee schedules.
