Budget 2023: Live Blog

•  €23.4 billion will be spent on health as part of Budget 2023, funding the delivery of 650 acute and community beds by the end of 2023, as well as recruiting 6,000 healthcare staff.
• €225 million in extra money will tackle waiting lists.
• €5 million will be given to oral health services.
• The free contraception scheme will be extended to women aged 16 to 30, and supports will be given to women receiving IVF treatment.
• €138 million has been set aside for disability services, €150 million to support older people living at home, and €58 million for mental health services.
• €439 million will be provided for the ongoing response to Covid-19.
• Free GP care will be extended to over 400,00 people.

Housing:

• The Help to Buy scheme is being extended at current rates until the end of 2024.
• A new tax credit for renters of €500 a year has been confirmed. 400,000 people are to benefit from this credit, and it can be claimed for 2022 and 2023.
• The pre-letting expenses for landlords are being doubled to €10,000 and the time a property must be vacant has been reduced from 12 to 6 months.
• A Vacant Homes Tax has been introduced, it will apply to homes which are occupied for less than 30 days a year. The tax will be charged at a rate three times the Local Property Tax for the home and will be self-assessed.
• There will be a new Residential Zoned Land Tax, and local authorities are expected to publish draft maps in November.
• The residential development stamp duty refund scheme is being extended to the end of 2025.
• €1.7 billion will be allocated for housing to deliver social housing build targets of 9,100.
• €215 million will be made available for the local authority affordable purchase scheme, AHB cost rental and shared equity scheme to deliver 5,000 affordable homes next year.
• €87 million will be made available for retrofits in 2023, and a new low cost loan for residential retrofits has been introduced.
• Up to 185,000 households are to be passed by the National Broadband Plan next year.
• To pay for the Mica redress scheme, a 10% levy on concrete blocks, pouring concrete and some other concrete products will be introduced from April 2023, raising €80 million annually.
• €930 million will be spent on water services.

Energy/Fuel:

•  The 9% VAT rate for electricity and gas is being extended until 28th February 2023.
• Carbon tax will see an increase of €7.50 a tonne from October 12th. This will increase the price of petrol and diesel by 2 cent a litre.
• However, the Government is reducing the National Oil Reserves Agency levy to 0% to offset the cost, this is worth 2c a litre.
• Excise rate reductions of 21c are expected on petrol, as well as 16c per litre and 5.4c per litre on Marked Gas oil.
• Ireland is to be part of the EU windfall tax approach, but will go it alone if needed.

Energy supports: 

• A new Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme from Revenue has been announced to help businesses, which will give back 40% of increased cost of electricity bill. There will be a monthly cap of €10,000 on this scheme, and it will be calculated by comparing average unit prices from 2021 to 2022.
• €60 million will be given to local authorities and €110 million to health funded bodies for energy costs.
• €100 million has been allocated for schools to deal with energy costs, as well as €10 million for third level institutes.
• €337 million will be allocated for grants for energy efficiency. This will fund 37,000 home energy upgrades.
• Every household set to receive €600 electricity energy grants, to be paid in three installments.
• A lump sum of €400 will be given to those in receipt of the fuel allowance.

Social Welfare:

• €12 increase across the board for social welfare payments.
• Those receiving child benefit will get a double payment in December.
• €500 lump sum will be given to recipients of the working family payment.
• €500 payment for carers and those with a disability will be given in November, as well as €200 for those receiving the living alone allowance.
• The working family payment thresholds will increase by €40 a week.
• Those in receipt of the qualified child allowance will see an extra €2 a week.

Tax:

• Budget 2023 includes a €1.1 billion income tax package, with a €3,200 increase in the cut off rate to higher tax to €40,000.
• Main tax credits are set to be raised by €75.
• The second USC rate band (2% rate) will increase from €21,295 to €22,920 to take account of minimum wage increase of 80c per hour.
• USC concession for those with a medical card earning less than €60,000 is being extended for another year.
• The Home Carer Tax Credit will be increased by €100.
• Companies will be allowed to give employees €1,000 tax free a year in vouchers, up from the current €500, to be applied this year.
• There will be 50% excise relief to small independent producers of cider.
• The current bank levy is to be extended for another year to raise €87 million per year.

VAT:

• The 9% VAT rate on hospitality will continue until 28th February 2023, increasing to 13.5% after this date.
• VAT on newspapers is reducing to 0% from January 1st 2023, to 'support an independent press'.
• VAT on defibrillators will be reduced to 0% from January 1st 2023.
• 0% of VAT will apply to hormone replacement and nicotine replacement therapies.

Education:

• The student contribution fee is to be reduced by at least €1,000.
• The SUSI maintenance grant to be increased by 10-14% from September 2023, as well as a double payment of SUSI in December.
• There will be an €1,000 increase to the postgrad fee contribution grant.
• There will be funding for an extra 4,800 additional apprentice placements.
• 686 additional teachers will be hired to support those with special needs, and an additional 1,194 SNAs will be taken on, bringing the number to 20,300.
• There will be a reduction in the pupil teacher ratio by 1 point to 23:1, with 370 extra teaching posts.
• Funding for free school books will be available for all primary school pupils.

Agriculture: 

• Five agricultural tax reliefs will be extended as part of this year's budget: Young Trained Farmer and Farm Consolidation Stamp Duty Reliefs, Farm Restructuring CGT Relief, Young Trained Farmer and Registered Farm Partnership Stock Reliefs.
• In addition, Minister Paschal Donohue has introduced accelerated capital allowances for building modern slurry storage facilities to ensure 'environmentally positive farming practices'.