{"id":645568,"date":"2026-10-05T15:32:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T15:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/645568\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T15:32:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T15:32:08","slug":"social-welfare-tax-changes-and-childcare-costs-everything-we-know-about-the-budget-so-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/645568\/","title":{"rendered":"Social welfare, tax changes, and childcare costs: Everything we know about the budget so far\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

After weeks of negotiations, nitpicking, and number crunching, the unveiling of Budget 2027<\/a> is now just hours away.<\/p>\n

T\u00e1naiste and finance minister Simon Harris and public expenditure minister Jack Chambers will take to their feet in the D\u00e1il from 1pm on Tuesday to explain the Government\u2019s funding plans to the nation. Ahead of the formal announcement, here is what we know so far.<\/p>\n

Tax<\/p>\n

The Coalition, and in particular Fine Gael leader Harris, has vowed that Budget 2027 will be one for people who \u201cget up early in the morning\u201d.<\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s budget did not do anything to alter tax bands or credits, with much of the tax package going towards a Vat cut for the hospitality sector.<\/p>\n

While negotiations were continuing last night, it is largely expected that the entry rate for the higher 40% rate of tax will rise from \u20ac44,000 to \u20ac46,000<\/a>. This would lead to people saving \u20ac400 a year (\u20ac33 a month). However, it is expected there would be wriggle room for the threshold to rise higher. With changes to tax credits also expected, it is likely workers earning over \u20ac46,000 will pay at least \u20ac500 less in tax a year.<\/p>\n

There is also expected to be \u201cmodest changes\u201d to each of the inheritance tax band thresholds.<\/p>\n

Childcare<\/p>\n

The Irish Examiner understands that, while negotiations are still ongoing, \u201cgood progress was made\u201d on childcare costs as part of the leaders\u2019 meeting in Government Buildings yesterday.<\/p>\n

It is expected that there will be an increase to the National Childcare Scheme, with emphasis on children aged under five in early years education, as well as junior and senior infants who require more hours in childcare than older children.<\/p>\n

It is hoped that parents will save at least \u20ac1,000 over the course of the year<\/a> in fees for children in this cohort, with negotiations expected to continue today to determine the exact fees and savings.<\/p>\n

The change will take effect from next September, to allow the systems to work out how to differentiate between age groups. Sources told the Irish Examiner that the highest costs are borne by parents with younger children, and this is why the Government decided to target this group.<\/p>\n

There should, however, be some cuts to childcare costs for parents with older children, as the maximum fees chargeable by providers is expected to be cut.<\/p>\n

There will also be funding for another wage increase for early years educators, it is understood.<\/p>\n

Energy<\/p>\n

Energy is one of the hottest topics among the electorate, with rising petrol, diesel, and home heating prices skyrocketing due to the conflicts in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

The excise duty cuts will continue for the rest of the year, with the timeline to reverse the 27c cut on petrol and 32c cut on diesel now \u201ckicked well into the new year\u201d, with changes not expected to take effect until at least February.<\/p>\n

At the Fianna F\u00e1il Cairde F\u00e1il gala dinner on Saturday evening, Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin effectively confirmed that the Government was leaning towards postponing any carbon taxes on kerosene<\/a> for the lifetime of this Coalition.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This would ensure the cost of home heating oil would not rise as a result of carbon tax<\/a> increases.<\/p>\n

College fees<\/p>\n

As revealed today by the Irish Examiner, parents with more than one child in college will see cuts to their college fees.<\/p>\n

Higher education minister James Lawless will announce tomorrow that families with more than one child in higher education will receive a \u20ac750 discount in fees for each student.<\/p>\n

Families with incomes of between \u20ac120,000 and \u20ac150,000 will also qualify for a new \u20ac500 per student grant.<\/p>\n

Families currently receiving grants covering 50% of the \u20ac2,500 student contribution fee will see their grants rise to 75% when they have more than one child in college. This will reduce their fees to \u20ac625 per student.<\/p>\n

SUSI maintenance grants, which are paid towards students\u2019 living costs, will increase by 4.5%, with some students set to receive up to \u20ac357 extra per year, depending on their eligibility.<\/p>\n

The student contribution fee will remain at \u20ac2,500, despite a last-minute attempt yesterday to reduce fees by \u20ac250.<\/p>\n

Social welfare<\/p>\n

While the social protection budget is usually one of the last ones to be decided, minister Dara Calleary\u2019s budget has been taking shape over recent days.<\/p>\n

The much-awaited cost of disability payment will be delivered as one \u20ac500 lump sum rather than a monthly payment<\/a>. While there is acceptance in Government that some may be unhappy about the fact that it isn\u2019t a monthly payment, there is also acknowledgement that there are contrasting views in the disability sector about how the payment should be delivered.<\/p>\n

Pension, unemployment benefits, and other social welfare rates will increase by \u20ac10 a week.<\/p>\n

The fuel allowance will increase by \u20ac5 a week. It is understood that either a weekly change or a lump sum was being explored but it was feared that a lump sum would be swallowed up quickly.<\/p>\n

The Taoiseach also confirmed that there will be a double payment at Christmas for social welfare recipients.<\/p>\n

Sport and culture<\/p>\n

As reported by the Irish Examiner last week, minister Patrick O\u2019Donovan left a meeting with Mr Chambers<\/a> after less than nine minutes following a disagreement about this department\u2019s budget package.<\/p>\n

The budget was settled on Saturday morning but is understood to be small. There will be a minimal increase to sports funding, with a small uplift that will ensure hurling and camogie academies are funded but \u201cnot much else\u201d.<\/p>\n

While it had been suggested that funding had been secured to \u201cdevelop\u201d a \u201cculture card\u201d, which would give \u20ac100 to 16-year-olds to spend on cultural events, the Irish Examiner understands that there is no concrete funding assigned to this.<\/p>\n

One senior Government source remarked that, while it can be examined, the Department of Public Expenditure does not typically fund the examination of proposals.<\/p>\n

Another source described the culture card as \u201cdead as a dodo\u201d.<\/p>\n

Justice<\/p>\n

Funding for 1,000 new garda\u00ed has been secured as part of justice minister Jim O\u2019Callaghan\u2019s budget negotiations.<\/p>\n

Additional money has also been secured for the International Protection Office to fund more staff and further deportation flights, as well as for youth diversion measures.<\/p>\n

There will also be further money allocated to build additional safe housing for victims of domestic, sexual, and gender-based violence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After weeks of negotiations, nitpicking, and number crunching, the unveiling of Budget 2027 is now just hours away.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":645569,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[166626,8858,42,43,70,11258,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-645568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-budget-2027","tag-energy-prices","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-simon-harris","tag-social-welfare","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645568","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=645568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}