{"id":646860,"date":"2026-10-06T21:40:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T21:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/646860\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T21:40:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T21:40:11","slug":"i-was-shocked-by-it-because-of-the-spin-beforehand-how-a-healthcare-worker-engineer-and-student-view-budget-2027-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/646860\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I was shocked by it because of the spin beforehand\u2019: How a healthcare worker, engineer and student view Budget 2027 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

HSE<\/a> healthcare assistant Dermott Foy had wanted to see substantial movement on fuel prices in the budget<\/a> to help him with the cost of running his car, but he said he has come away disappointed.<\/p>\n

The first thing he mentioned when asked what he thought of the package was the changes to income tax<\/a>, from which he will only benefit to the tune of a couple of hundred euro a year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m one of these hard workers that gets up and every morning goes out to work, but I\u2019m still under the \u20ac44,000 bracket and so, to be truthful about it, the uplift in my payslip is going to be very poor,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you break it down to a weekly figure, it\u2019s not going to go anywhere close to the increase in the price of petrol we\u2019ve seen over the last six months, which is costing me more than \u20ac50 a week on top of what it used to, so it\u2019s no help really to me as a worker going out to do my job.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he was \u201creally shocked about it\u201d because of the \u201cspin\u201d that was put out about it beforehand. \u201cThere was all that talk about the working person and the middle earner and this budget being about them because last year\u2019s was absolutely shocking,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I\u2019m someone who has worked my way up from being a lower earner for a long time … I left school with a very poor education and so I drove buses and trucks for a long time.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo disrespect to the people doing it now because it\u2019s tough work and long hours, and, as I got older, that was one of the reasons I looked at a way to get out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Foy reskilled and became a healthcare worker because there was \u201cso much talk\u201d about how many were needed.<\/p>\n

\"HomeHome support worker Dermott Foy the uplift in my payslip is going to be very poor.
\n Photo: Joe Dunne <\/p>\n

\u201cI was lucky enough to get a job with the HSE, in the public sector, that came with what people would describe as a middle income,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it certainly doesn\u2019t feel as though this budget was about me.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cuts to the carbon tax, they\u2019re not going to make a big difference to the people I\u2019m dealing with \u2013 pensioners who are sick or vulnerable on low incomes who can\u2019t pay their heating bills.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Budget 2027: \u2018Gone before you get it\u2019 – Opposition criticises cost-of-living measuresOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve kicked the can down the road, but there just seems to be a lack of imagination down there. They\u2019re completely disconnected from working people.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the supports for new cars have been extended … There isn\u2019t the infrastructure in Donegal. An electric car just wouldn\u2019t cut it up here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018The curate\u2019s egg\u2019 \u2013 the professional\"DublinerDubliner Damien Owens, an engineer and director general of Engineers Ireland, Dublin. Photograph: Dara Mac D\u00f3naill \/ The Irish Times <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s the famous phrase \u2013 \u2018the curate\u2019s egg\u2019? It\u2019s good in spots,\u201d says Damien Owens, laughing after hearing what was in the budget on Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Nearing retirement after more than 40 years working as an engineer, Owens, who lives in Clontarf, Dublin, says there was little in Budget 2027 for him.<\/p>\n

The 64-year-old, who has been director general of the representative body Engineers Ireland for the last four years, did not sound surprised.<\/p>\n

Regardless, he was primarily concerned about what the budget would do for young professionals like his daughter.<\/p>\n

Aged in her late 20s, she moved home in recent years to save a house deposit.<\/p>\n

Housing measures in the budget aimed at young workers like her appear to have left much to be desired.<\/p>\n

The maximum relief available under the Help to Buy scheme has been increased by \u20ac5,000, though Owens believes it will not help, arguing there is \u201cnothing to buy\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the new developments are rent-only,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The decision not to increase the value of eligible properties from \u20ac500,000 \u201cwon\u2019t move the dial much\u201d, particularly in Dublin.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Budget 2027: Big business pays the bills as Coalition rolls the diceOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, while tax bands have \u201conly widened a bit\u201d, he says the income tax package will help if it coincides with pay rises to offset inflation next year.<\/p>\n

Regardless, the changes \u201csend a positive message\u201d, Owens says, though he believes it was a missed opportunity not to set out plans to gradually increase tax bands over the coming years.<\/p>\n

This would have given greater certainty to young professionals, he says.<\/p>\n

He welcomed measures around cutting childcare costs, alongside details of capital spending, which he says will give professionals confidence to \u201cstay put\u201d, arguing that many are being pulled abroad.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose sorts of things really lift the spirits of an economy,\u201d he says, adding that such \u201ctangible symbols\u201d like MetroLink, the long-awaited rail line connection the city centre and north Dublin, give confidence to young professionals that they have a future in Ireland.<\/p>\n

Nothing jumps out for him personally from Tuesday\u2019s budget, aside from the increase to the amount of electricity he will be able to sell back to the grid without paying tax.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Budget 2027 families: a \u2018keep more of what you earn\u2019 result – but are the savings enough?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

That rate will rise from \u20ac400 to \u20ac600. Owens installed solar panels last year, saying they have made an \u201cenormous difference\u201d to his bills.<\/p>\n

Having previously paid about \u20ac200 every two months, he has been receiving money after selling excess electricity back to the grid over the summer months.<\/p>\n

Aside from that, he mentions the inheritance tax, saying it \u201cdidn\u2019t move much\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot that I\u2019m planning on leaving.\u201d<\/p>\n

No \u2018meaningful action\u2019 on student accommodation\"DanielDaniel Walsh, who is president of Aontas na Mac L\u00e9inn in \u00c9irinn. Photograph: Conor McCabe Photography <\/p>\n

Budget 2027 lacks any \u201cmeaningful\u201d action to resolve the student accommodation crisis and fails to protect students from public transport fare increases.<\/p>\n

This is the view of student Daniel Walsh, who is president of Aontas na Mac L\u00e9inn in \u00c9irinn (AML\u00c9), the student advocacy group.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year\u2019s budget does very little to support the thousands of students around the country who are getting up at 5am every morning to begin their hours-long commute to college, a journey that they\u2019re forced to make as a result of the student accommodation crisis,\u201d Walsh said.<\/p>\n

The student union had campaigned to protect students from the scheduled 15 per cent fare increase across bus and rail services from January.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Are Budget 2027\u2019s tax and social welfare measures enough? Conor Pope delivers his verdictOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

This was not included in Tuesday\u2019s budget, meaning \u201cstudents who are already being forced to commute long distances due to the shortage of student accommodation on our campuses are effectively going to be doubly penalised by fare hikes\u201d, Walsh said.<\/p>\n

Walsh did welcome the reduction of the student contribution fee by \u20ac150, bringing the maximum fee per third level student down to \u20ac2,350.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis move signals a positive commitment to promises that there would be a continual reduction to the fee over the lifetime of this Government,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said he was \u201cquite disappointed\u201d to see such a small reduction in the student contribution charge at a time when the cost to college has risen by \u20ac500 this year, Walsh said.<\/p>\n

The budget failed to provide funding to support purpose-built student accommodation \u201con the kind of scale which could meaningfully reduce the cost of student accommodation for families up and down the country\u201d, Walsh said.<\/p>\n

While there has been an increase in the tax relief available to homeowners who let out a room in their house under the rent-a-room scheme, which has risen from \u20ac14,000 to \u20ac16,000 a year, there continues to be a lack of protections for students who may avail of this type of accommodation, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re yet to see any progress on the expansion of renters\u2019 protection to students living in that dig-style accommodation \u2013 it\u2019s really the wild west,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no protection available to students at all. They can be turfed out overnight, and the only recourse available to them then is effectively just small claims court.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HSE healthcare assistant Dermott Foy had wanted to see substantial movement on fuel prices in the budget to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":646861,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[5168,103,397,396,3662,2120,61,60,17160,2055],"class_list":["post-646860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-budget","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-housing-crisis","tag-hse","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-student-accommodation","tag-students"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646860","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=646860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}