Background information

Against a background of continuing inflation and cost of living increases, the Government included a number of one-off cost of living measures in its Budget for 2024. It also included income tax adjustments.

According to the Economic and Social Research Institute, the measures 'will insulate most households from rising prices [in 2024]'. It also concluded that: 'The total budgetary package is progressive and this research estimates that it will result in reductions in the at-risk-of-poverty (AROP).'

Content of measure

The cost of living measures included:

• An increase of €12 for weekly social welfare and pension payments.
• A January Bonus payment to qualifying social welfare recipients.
• A payment of €200 for people in receipt of the Living Alone Allowance.
• A payment of €300 for people in receipt of the Fuel Allowance.
• A double month of child benefit.

A personal tax package worth, according to the Irish Times, about €800 to individual workers was also announced.

According to ESRI analysis: 'The package of tax cuts, welfare increases, one-off payments and indirect tax cuts is worth around 2% of household disposable income on average, with higher gains for low-income compared to high-income households.'

Use of measure

No available information.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Applies to all workers	Does not apply to businesses	Applies to all citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Social insurance	National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Consulted	Consulted
Form	Any other form of consultation, institutionalised (as stable working groups or committees) or informal	Any other form of consultation, institutionalised (as stable working groups or committees) or informal

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• No involvement
• Main level of involvement: Peak or cross-sectoral level

Involvement

Social partners made submissions to the Government prior to the Budget announcment.

Views and reactions

The employer group Ibec welcomed Budget 2024. Ibec CEO Danny McCoy stated, "Budget 2024 strikes the right balance between investment ambition while further enhancing social cohesion."

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions welcomed certain elements of the Budget. It stated: "The €1.40 increase in the minimum wage to €12.70 from January represents some progress towards a real living wage but still leaves the minimum wage below the rate of €14.80 for 2023/2024 as estimated by the Living Wage Technical Group.

The €12 increase in welfare rates is below the steep increase in prices over the past year. If one-off measures are deemed necessary to improve income adequacy, then core rates need to be increased on a permanent basis and benchmarked against the median earnings of full-time workers."

Sources

• 10 October 2023: Budget 2024 main points (www.irishtimes.com)
• 10 October 2023: Your guide to Budget 2024 (www.gov.ie)
• 13 October 2023: Budget 2024 tax and welfare measures likely to increase real income next year (www.esri.ie)