{"id":617281,"date":"2026-09-07T14:46:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T14:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/617281\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T14:46:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T14:46:09","slug":"budget-2027-unlikely-to-see-return-of-energy-credits-says-taoiseach-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/617281\/","title":{"rendered":"Budget 2027 unlikely to see return of energy credits, says Taoiseach \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The return of energy credits is unlikely when the Government delivers its second budget<\/a> next month and changes to income tax are likely to only have a \u201cmodest\u201d impact on workers, senior Government members have said. <\/p>\n

Speaking in Tullamore, Co Offaly at the Fianna F\u00e1il<\/a> think-in, Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin said he did not want to completely rule out the return of some one-off payments in the budget to help with the cost of living. <\/p>\n

However, he said any such measures would reduce the capacity of the Government to fund other areas, citing childcare and the cost of disability.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to reduce the cost of childcare. The more you put into one-off payments, the less you have to reduce childcare costs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time you do a one-off payment by say \u20ac1 billion or \u20ac2 billion, you reduce your capacity to deal more substantively with issues that matter to people on an ongoing basis … so energy credits for everybody \u2013 I can\u2019t see the capacity being there to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martin said the Government wanted to use the budget \u201cto ease cost-of-living pressures on people\u201d, suggesting that would be a feature of both the tax and expenditure sides of the package. <\/p>\n

Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers said cuts to income tax would be \u201cmodest\u201d, benefiting most people by only a few hundred euro per year.<\/p>\n

Ministers have been flagging plans to cut taxes for months, with T\u00e1naiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris telling a chamber of commerce meeting in Mullingar on Monday that Budget 2027 would support people \u201cwho get up early every morning and go to work\u201d. He said cutting business taxes and cutting income tax \u201care the priorities\u201d as budget negotiations enter their final stage.<\/p>\n

Chambers echoed Harris\u2019s language, saying the Government wanted to help people who get up early \u201cbut also get up and work nights too, so it\u2019s about all workers across the economy\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, he cautioned against unrealistic expectations about the scale of the tax package. There was much criticism of the Coalition last year for opting not to reduce the income tax burden. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m honest about what I believe it will achieve. It will be a modest income tax package, one that amounts to \u20ac1.5 billion in total,\u201d Chambers told reporters at the think-in. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very clear that it is modest and the adjustments will amount to, you know, it could be a few hundred euro, depending on your income, which I know on an annualised basis would be perceived as modest among the public.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said it would take \u201ca series of budgets for people to see the real improvement in terms of keeping more of their take-home pay\u201d.<\/p>\n

Asked if there was scope to cuts to inheritance tax, as some Government backbenchers have sought, Chambers said: \u201cI think there is, depending on where we land on income tax.\u201d <\/p>\n

But he said a proposal to equalise different categories of beneficiaries would cost \u201chundreds of millions\u201d and was \u201cimpossible\u201d.<\/p>\n

Earlier, the Taoiseach said changes proposed by Minister for Justice Jim O\u2019Callaghan<\/a> that tighten the requirements for citizenship would be considered by the Government this week. He praised changes already made to the rules on immigration<\/a>, saying they had created a \u201cfirmer and more robust\u201d system.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the numbers of those seeking asylum have reduced in the last 12 months. In terms of returns<\/a> all of that is happening efficiently and effectively. The EU asylum pact is working.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that the \u201ccosts of accommodation in respect of asylum are also coming down very significantly … so that firmer, more focused, targeted response is yielding results\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"AA party member takes a photograph with Ministers Niall Collins, Mary Butler and Jim O’Callaghan and Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin at Fianna F\u00e1il’s think-in at Tullamore Court Hotel in Tullamore, Co Offaly. Photograph: Niall Carson\/PA Wire <\/p>\n

He said the temporary protection status afforded to Ukrainian refugees was \u201cnever meant to be a path to citizenship\u201d and that many refugees would be needed back in Ukraine after the war.<\/p>\n

Fianna F\u00e1il TDs, Senators and MEPs are gathering in Tullamore for two days for the party\u2019s think-in before the D\u00e1il resumes next week.<\/p>\n

Asked about his leadership, Martin said the \u201centire parliamentary party is in unison\u201d behind him and was \u201cfocused on the issues that matter to the people\u201d.<\/p>\n

He later said he expected to have discussions with British prime minister Andy Burnham later this month about Northern Ireland issues, including potentially on the criteria for holding a Border poll in the future.<\/p>\n

Under the Belfast Agreement, the calling of a Border poll is a matter for the British government, but it stipulates that the Northern Ireland secretary shall call one where it seems like to pass. Successive British governments have refused to say how they would arrive at that judgment.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the time of the Good Friday Agreement that issue was left deliberately vague … but that\u2019s an issue that at some stage needs to be discussed,\u201d the Taoiseach said.<\/p>\n

He said he favoured Irish unity, but cautioned against equating a demand for a Border poll with republicanism. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe concept of republicanism is much broader than that,\u201d he said. \u201cWe should be careful of not being sucked in by soundbites and by campaigns that seem to me to have short-term objectives to satisfy political bases.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The return of energy credits is unlikely when the Government delivers its second budget next month and changes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":617282,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5168,895,42,1843,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-617281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-budget","tag-fianna-fail","tag-headlines","tag-micheal-martin","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=617281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617281\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/617282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=617281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=617281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=617281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}