Budget 2025

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Social Welfare

• Double payments for some social welfare recipients in October
• €12 increase for those receiving the weekly Social Protection payment
• Carer's allowance means test disregard to increase to €625 for a single person and €1,250 for a couple
• Domiciliary care allowance to increase by €20 and carer's support grant to rise by €150 to €2,000

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Cost of living

• Energy credit of €250 for all households to be paid in two equal payments, one before the end of 2024 and one after
• Proposal for the 9% reduced VAT rate for gas and electricity to be extended for another six months to 30 April 2025
• Further €300 lump sum payment to fuel allowance recipients in November
• Additional €200 for recipients of the living alone allowance

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Cigarettes, vapes and alcohol

• Excise duty on a pack of 20 cigarettes to increase by €1, bringing the price in the most popular price category to €18.05
• Pro-rata increase on other tobacco products
• Domestic tax on e-cigarettes to apply to all e-liquids at rate of 50 cent per ml of e-liquid
• Typical disposable vape contains 2ml of e-liquid, meaning tax will bring price to €9.23 including VAT
• No increase in excise duties on alcohol

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Housing and renters

• The rent tax credit offered to tenants will rise from €750 to €1,000, and to €2,000 for a jointly assessed couple
• Help to Buy scheme will be extended until the end of 2029
• Properties worth over €1.5m to pay 6% stamp duty
• Existing 1% stamp duty to apply to values up to €1m and 2% above €1m
• Relief for pre-letting expenses for landlords extended for three years until the end of 2027 to help vacant property owners bring accommodation into the rental system
• Vacant homes tax increased from five to seven times the property's existing base Local Property Tax rate

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Children

• Double payments of child benefit in November and December
• Double payment of the foster care allowance
• €400 lump sum payment for working family payment recipients
• €100 lump sum payment per child to recipients of qualified child increase payments
• National childcare scheme funding to rise by 44%, resulting in reduction of fulltime childcare costs by €1,100
• New 'baby boost' one-off payment of €420 for each newborn child from 1 January
• Free public transport to be extended to children aged five to eight

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Education

• Free schoolbooks initiative extended to transition and senior cycle pupils
• Funding to continue for the school transport fee reduction and State exam fee waiver
• Continued reduction of student contribution fee by €1,000
• Once-off reduction of 33% in contribution fee for apprentices in higher education
• Post-graduate tuition fee contribution increase of €1,000 for student grant recipients

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Income tax

• The USC will be cut from 4% to 3% on incomes of €25,000 to €70,000, the second consecutive reduction to the USC rate
• The national minimum wage will increase by 80 cent to €13.50 per hour from 1 January 2025
• Entry threshold to 3% rate increased by €1,622 to €27,382
• The main tax credits - the Personal, Employee and Earned Income Credits - will increase by €125
• The Standard Rate Cut Off Point will increase by €2,000 to €44,000, with proportionate increases for married couples and civil partners
• Inheritance tax will increase for all thresholds - Group A up from €335,000 to €400,000, Group B up to €40,000 and Group C up to €20,000
• Exemption from Income Tax, Capital Gains Tax and Capital Acquisions Tax on payments made to women impacted by CervicalCheck failures

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Carers

• Home carer tax credit and single person child carer credit to increase by €150
• Incapacitated child tax credit to increase by €300
• Dependent relative tax credit to rise by €60
• Blind tax credit up €300

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Inheritance tax

• The Group A threshold for CAT - which includes gifts or inheritance from parents to their children - will rise from €335,000 to €400,000
• The Group B threshold - which includes gifts or inheritances from siblings - will rise from €32,500 to €40,000
• The Group C threshold - which includes gifts and inheritances from relatives like uncles, aunts or cousins - will rise from €16,250 to €20,000

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Climate

• €7.50 increase on current rate of carbon tax on petrol and diesel from €56 to €63.50 per tonne of carbon dioxide emmitted from 9 October
• Including VAT, carbon tax increase represents a rise of around 2.1 cent per litre of petrol and 2.5 cent to a litre of diesel
• Increase on carbon tax levied on other fuels, including home heating, to be brought in from May 2025
• Amendment for battery electronic commercial vehicles so people can qualify for €200 vehicle registration tax rate

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Health

• 495 new beds to health services across hospital and community services
• Increased access to IVF and Hormone Replacement Therapy to be free of charge
• Increase in numbers working in health service

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Justice and defence

• 350 more staff to be recruited as the Irish Prison Service
• Further recruitment of 1,000 gardaí and up to 150 garda civilian staff
• €1.35bn allocated for Defence Forces, to help provide for recruitment of net increase of 400 members

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