Budget 2026: Second targeted child benefit payment 'not off the table'
The introduction of a second, targeted child benefit payment is 'not off the table' for Budget 2026, the Taoiseach has said.
Micheál Martin said consideration was being given towards the introduction of a second-tier of child benefit.
'Nothing's off the table, we're examining all options in respect of this. We have to do something targeted and something that will have a meaningful impact on child poverty.'
The Taoiseach said there would be a 'very significant expenditure' required for such a proposal, with the Government due to look at other options to tackle child poverty.
'There's a wide menu there that we can choose from to target resources to meaningfully impact on the child poverty situation,' Mr Martin said.
'That's not just in terms of income supports, but also in terms of other initiatives in education. For example, the Deis+, which would target more children in particular with severe disadvantage.'
Within the 2025 programme for government, there are commitments to 'explore a targeted child benefit payment'.
At present, child benefit is paid out to families at a value of €140 per month per child. It is paid to children until they reach 16.
However, payments will still be made to 16, 17 and 18-year-olds if they are still in full-time education or training, or if they have a disability and are unable to support themselves.
On disabilities, Mr Martin said the Government would give consideration to beginning the process of ending the means test for the carers' allowance. He added there was a 'commitment' to end the means test within the programme for government.
Housing
However, the Taoiseach declined to speculate on possible tax breaks for developers featuring as part of the budget.
Mr Martin highlighted the market sensitivities, but added there would be further initiatives on housing unveiled in the weeks ahead.
He said the Government's agenda was to create 'certainty' to bring in more private finance into the housing market.
It comes as finance minister Paschal Donohoe did not rule out the possibility of tax breaks for developers, saying how the Government supports the building of homes and infrastructure would be a 'key feature of the budget'.
'What I just want to ensure is that any decisions that we do make are ones that are affordable, well designed and myself, [public expenditure] Minister [Jack] Chambers and the party leaders, will be able to listen to all of these views and work out what I believe will be a safe, sensible budget for next year.'
Pressed on this and how he previously came out against such tax reliefs, Mr Donohoe said: 'We're at a position now where we will be intensifying the work in relation to the budget.
'I've outlined my views in the past, I'm clear, but what I'm focused on doing now is working with Minister Chambers to deliver the budget and making sure that all we do in the budget is safe.'
Meanwhile, Mr Harris said the Government's pledge to cut the Vat rate to 9% for hospitality was a 'solemn commitment' and it was not just a tax cut for businesses.
'It's about recognising that in every town and every village, there are small businesses that are creating employment that want to be able to keep going and need to be supported,' Mr Harris said.
Mr Donohoe added that the Government was committed to delivering on Vat in the budget.
However, he warned there may not be income tax cuts in the upcoming budget, with the finance minister saying 'decisions have to be made'.
'If we decide that we are going to make a particular set of decisions and investments in tax, then that means there are other things that we will not do,' Mr Donohoe said.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Examiner
32 minutes ago
- Irish Examiner
'Ireland needs radical action to end its infrastructure crisis'
The Government must accept that there is a 'national crisis in Irish infrastructure', according to a member of a taskforce charged with improving Ireland's project delivery. ESRI chairman Sean O'Driscoll warned of 'catastrophic consequences' facing Ireland's water, energy, and transport networks if 'radical and brave decisions are not taken to ensure projects get completed quicker'. He claimed public servants are more 'scared' of the public accounts committee than of the economy declining. He said: That has resulted in paralysis and risk aversion in the system. The bold decisions that are required aren't being taken, they're being avoided and they have been for 10 years. Mr O'Driscoll was one of 12 people appointed in May to an 'accelerating infrastructure' taskforce, chaired by public expenditure minister Jack Chambers. CLIMATE & SUSTAINABILITY HUB In an interview with the Irish Examiner, he calls for 'urgent, impactful, radical and immediate actions' including: Addressing judicial reviews and planning delays. He said the bar for judicial reviews is 'far too low' and the Government must go further than its newly-published Planning Act to tackle crises in energy and water; Extend Part 8 planning permissions enjoyed by local councils, which allows them to develop on land independently of An Bord Pleanála to ensure critical infrastructure projects get built; Tell the EU that Ireland has an 'infrastructure emergency' to overcome regulation red tape; Secure multi-year funding for utilities and major projects and urge co-operation between local authorities and utility providers. The infrastructure taskforce was launched in May and is in the middle of a public consultation. It is expected to issue up to 50 recommendations to the Government within months to help speed up delivery. Uisce Éireann chief executive Niall Gleeson warned last month that Dublin is facing serious water supply and wastewater capacity challenges. The stark warning, coupled with fears of power outages in recent years, are evidence of the potentially 'catastrophic' effect of failing to get Ireland's infrastructure improved, Mr O'Driscoll warned. He pointed to a gas pipeline connecting Cork and Dublin being built more than 40 years ago, compared with the time taken to get a planned 170km pipeline to bring water from the River Shannon to Dublin approved, as an example of the need to overhaul decision-making in the sector. Dublin will have a water crisis within five years for the houses it has planned. Are we saying we can't build a water system for the capital city of the country today? We need radical thinking. 'Why wouldn't you [extend Part 8 planning laws] for large infrastructure projects of national significance? Extend that to private land. If the Shannon water project isn't an emergency, I don't know what is.' 'Infrastructure paralysis' He said public expenditure minister Jack Chambers recently said infrastructure delivery is in 'paralysis'. 'In medical terms, that means an emergency. "The art of politics is compromise. Politicians like to avoid taking tough decisions. But if we're going to crack infrastructure, hard decisions are going to have to be taken, and this will have to be treated as a national emergency. We admit it is one and then we treat it as such.' On whether the EU could frustrate Irish attempts to overhaul planning, the former Glen Dimplex chairman pointed to Germany's attempts to substitute LNG imports and other infrastructure to reduce its dependence on Russian-imported gas as an example of EU hurdles being overcome in emergency times. He said: There is no point hiding behind Europe. I hear people saying 'there's an EU directive' and 'we can't do this'... I don't buy that anymore. "We all have an onus to say not all regulation is good and we need to say 'we have an emergency' to Brussels.' Asked about Ireland's climate change targets, he insisted that development should be compatible with those targets, pointing to vast improvements required in the building of renewable energy projects. Taoiseach Micheál Martin should become centrally involved in the task force's work, Mr O'Driscoll added, as former Taoiseach Enda Kenny had in the successful 2012 action plan for jobs, after the financial crash. He said the warning signs are there, and that the utilitiies are all talking about it: 'The government of the day don't want to hear public bodies saying this, but they need to hear it. When the lights go out, or the water isn't available, they'll say: 'Why didn't anyone shout about this?''
RTÉ News
2 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Cabinet to discuss uniform allowance, housing crisis
Social Protection Minister Dara Calleary will seek Government approval to extend access to the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance to 2,300 children being cared for by foster families in receipt of the Foster Care Allowance. The once-off payment helps eligible families with the cost of uniforms, clothes and footwear when children start school each autumn. It is payable in respect of children between the ages of 4 and 17 and children between the ages of 18 and 22 who are in full-time second level education. The Taoiseach, alongside ministers Jack Chambers and Paschal Donohoe, will look to publish the Analysis of Well-Being in Ireland report for 2025, which will be used to help set out priorities for Budget 2026. While performance is positive overall, the analysis identifies areas where work is needed. It highlights that unemployed people, younger workers, people in bad health, single-parent households, lower income households, and renters paying market rates are faring less well than other groups in society. Tánaiste Simon Harris will outline the significant preparations underway for Ireland's presidency of the European Union next year. This will be the eighth time Ireland has hosted the Presidency of the European Council and the first occasion to do so since 2013. During the presidency term there will be 23 informal ministerial meetings hosted in Ireland and a quarter of them will be held outside Dublin. There will also be a summit of the European Political Community (EPC) and an informal meeting of the European Council, both of which will take place in Dublin. The EPC summit will be the largest meeting Ireland has ever hosted involving leaders of 47 states as well as several heads of EU institutions and international organisations. The Tánaiste will tell colleagues that resourcing and delivering a successful presidency in the second half of 2026 is essential for Ireland's position, influence and reputation in the EU. Work is underway across the Government to define Ireland's policy priorities for the presidency and will intensify in the autumn. In addition to these ministerial meetings, there will also be a range of conferences and other large-scale events which may be held in locations outside Dublin to help ensure an appropriate regional distribution of presidency events. The Tánaiste will tell ministers it is essential to have strong relationships established with key figures in the parliament in advance of the presidency and to be on first-name terms with their counterparts in other EU countries. There are also plans for a programme of community, youth and schools engagement around the presidency, which will have a particular focus on children and young people, and will be designed in a way which takes the views of young people on board. Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe will seek Cabinet approval for committee stage amendments to the Local Property Tax Bill, including one that relates to property adapted for use by disabled people. This will provide for a reduction of €105,000 in the chargeable value of a property which has been adapted for use by a disabled person, subject to certain criteria being met. Proposals to address housing crisis Housing Minister James Browne will bring three proposals to Cabinet in an effort to address the housing crisis. The proposals include legislation to quickly extend rent pressure zones across the country, to expand the remit of the Land Development Agency and to establish Coimisiún Pleanála to replace An Bord Pleanála. Later this evening the Dáil will debate an opposition motion calling for emergency action on housing while a Raise the Roof protest will take place outside Leinster House. Priority legislation that will bring the 17% of tenancies currently outside the Rent Pressure Zones within the 2% rent cap rule is now expected to quickly progress through the Oireachtas. Minister James Browne will tell Cabinet the move is a practical measure to protect any renters from rent hikes in advance of the new rent control system that will be introduced next March. Separately former HSE boss Paul Reid is expected to be named as the chairperson of An Coimisiún Pleanála, which will replace An Bord Pleanála. It is expected Minister Browne will bring a memo to Cabinet to establish the new body which is aiming to speed up planning decisions. The Cabinet will also hear that the Land Development Agency is to be tasked with delivering more homes across the country. The agency will get stronger powers to find and acquire land suitable for housing from both public and private sources.
Irish Examiner
2 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Former HSE chief Paul Reid to head up planning authority
Former HSE chief executive Paul Reid is set to be appointed as the new chairman of the Government's reformed planning authority, An Comisiún Pleanála. Housing minister James Browne will inform Cabinet today, Tuesday, of the establishment of An Coimisiún Pleanála, which is due to replace An Bord Pleanála as Ireland's planning authority. It comes as Cabinet is set to approve emergency legislation to establish a national rent pressure zone, which would prevent landlords from increasing rents beyond 2%. New structure for An Coimisiún Pleanála The establishment of An Coimisiún Pleanála has been long anticipated, with the previous government's mammoth Planning and Development Act providing the legislative basis for the body. As part of the change, An Coimisiún Pleanála will have a restructured organisation with a new governing body that will be led by Mr Reid. A new chief planning officer will be appointed alongside 14 other planning commissioners. This will replace the previous board structure of An Bord Pleanála. Mandatory timelines for planning decisions A new system of mandatory, statutory timelines for planning decisions will be introduced. This means An Coimisiún Pleanála will be required to make decisions and adjudicate appeals within 18 to 48 weeks. It is understood that Mr Browne believes the changes to the planning authority will radically increase the speed of decision-making, while providing more certainty on timelines. The minister is said to be frustrated with the 'lack of efficiency' in the existing planning system, which he believes is delaying the delivery of homes, one government source said. Nationwide RPZ Mr Browne will also bring forward emergency legislation to introduce a nationwide rent pressure zone. This will expand existing rent pressure zone protections to the approximately 17% of tenancies across the country which are not currently in rent controlled areas. At present, landlords outside rent pressure zones are not restricted in how much they increase their rent each year. It is understood the Government intends to pass the legislation urgently, with hopes it can be done before the summer recess in July. Sources have also indicated that rent pressure zone protections will come into effect on the day after the laws are passed. Rental reform in 2026 The changes to introduce a national rent pressure zone comes ahead of wider rental reform from the Government that is expected to come into effect on March 1, 2026. The new proposals will allow for landlords to reset their rents either after six years or if a tenant voluntarily leaves the property. Private housing on public land Government ministers are also set to approve an expansion to the remit of the Land Development Agency, which would see legislation amended to allow the body develop private housing on public lands. The body will also be permitted to increase the amount of private land it acquires, as well as deliver houses outside its existing operating areas. The agency will also be given stronger land transfer powers for sites owned by commercial State bodies, particularly for sites deemed to be underutilised. Cabinet will also approve any project-level commitments by the agency, which will no longer be required to be reviewed by NewERA — the Government's commercial advisory body — to increase approval speeds. While the Government will approve the changes on Tuesday, it is understood that legislation to give effect to the LDA's expanded remit will be brought to Cabinet in the 'near future'.
