Budget 2026

‍

Personal tax and minimum wage

• No personal tax package
• Minimum wage goes up by 65c to €14.15c per hour
• Universal Social Charge (USC) 2 per cent rate band raises to €28,700

‍

Welfare

• There will be a €10 across-the-board increase to core weekly welfare payments including the old-age pension
• A “Christmas bonus” double payment
• Child support payments will increase by €8 for kids under 12 and €16 for those aged 12 and over
• Eligibility for fuel allowance will be extended to those receiving working family payments
• Income thresholds for the working family payment will go up by €60
• The income disregard for the carers’ allowance is also expected to increase by €375 for a single person up to €1,000 and €750 for a couple, up to €2,000

‍

Childcare, children and disabilities

• A significant increase in spending on disabilities – at least €500 million
• More money for “thousands” more childcare places and wage increase for those working in the sector
• The back-to-school allowance will be extended to 2 and 3 year olds

‍‍

Education

• A new DEIS+ scheme for schools with the highest levels of education disadvantage
• 860 new special education teachers
• 1,700 new SNAs
• New Education Therapy Service to roll our therapy supports directly into special schools
• Increase in school funding across primary and post-primary schools

‍

Third level

• Fees for students will come down by €500 on a permanent basis, to €2,500. This will be experienced by many as an increase in real terms, as they have been temporarily lowered to €2,000 in recent years
• Income thresholds for SUSI grants will rise by €5,000 to €120,000 per household

‍

Housing, mortgage holders and renters

• Help to Buy to be extended
• Renters tax credit extended for three years at its current level of €1,000 for an individual or €2,000 for a couple
• VAT on the sale of new apartments to be reduced from 13.5 per cent to 9 per cent
• Exemptions or reductions in corporation tax on profits from the sale of some apartments, including Cost Rental schemes
• Mortgage interest tax relief extended for two years, but reduced for the final year. People will be able to claim the existing level of €1,250 for 2025, and €625 for 2026

‍

Energy, climate and utility bills

• Lower VAT of 9 per cent on utility bills will be extended for three years to the end of 2028
• €588 million for SEAI residential and community energy upgrade schemes – an €89 million increase on last year

‍

Transport

• Reduced public transport fares will be maintained for next year
• €5,000 VRT relief for EVs extended to end 2026
• BIK regime for company cars extended on a tapered basis – worth €10,000 next year, €5,000 in 2027, and €2,500 in 2028. It will be abolished in 2029

‍

Enterprise

• VAT on food businesses, catering and hairdressing will reduce from 13.5 per cent to 9 per cent from July 2026
• This will cost €232 million next year and €681 million in a full year
• Research and Development tax credits will be overhauled
• The R&D credit rate will rise from 30 per cent to 35 per cent
• The first year payment threshold rises to €87,500 to support smaller projects
• CGT revisions: entreprenurial relief reformed with the lifetime limit raised from €1 million to €1.5 million
• The Special Assignee Relief Programme has been extended for five years and increased minimum qualifying income raised to €125,000 per year
• Banking levy extended by another year with a target yield of €200 million

‍

Health

• The final allocation for health will be €27.3 billion, an increase of €1.5 billion on 2025
• 300 more staff for mental health services
• 100 more clinicians for mental health crisis, including specialist teams to be placed in model 4 emergency departments out of hours
• New crisis resolution teams, including drop-in crisis cafes to be established next year

‍

Justice

• Up to 1,000 additional gardaí in 2026
• More money for body cameras, victim support, youth diversion and domestic violence programmes
• More spending on resources to speed up immigration processing

‍

The Arts, Sports and Education

• Basic Income for Artists scheme to be retained on a permanent basis, rather than as a pilot scheme
• The Section 481 film tax credit will see a new 40 per cent rate of relief for productions with €1 million of spending on relevant visual effects work, up to a maximum of €10 million per production
• The Digital Games tax credit will be extended for six years until the end of 2031
• €10 million more for sports, including €3 million for the FAI’s academy system
• €15 million for An Post
• €33 million for the National Broadband Plan

‍

Agriculture

• Increased budget including more funding for the new TB action plan

‍

Old reliables

• Excise duty goes up by 50 cent on a box of cigarettes with pro rata increase on other tobacco products

‍