Back-to-school payments to be extended to children in foster care
Back-to-school payments are set to be extended to benefit the 2,300 children currently in foster care.
Minister for social protection Dara Calleary will seek Cabinet approval today, Tuesday, to extend the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance to those who are in receipt of Foster Care Allowance.
The once-off payment for 2025 is €160 for children aged between four and 11 on or before September 30, while those aged 12-22 years will receive €285.
Social protection minister Dara Calleary is seeking Cabinet approval to extend the clothing and footwear allowance to those in receipt of Foster Care Allowance. File picture: Brian Lawless/PA
Occupied Territories Bill
The Occupied Territories Bill had been expected to be brought to Cabinet today, Tuesday, but has been delayed by a week.
Local Property Tax Bill
Finance minister Paschal Donohoe will seek approval for amendments to the Local Property Tax (LPT) Bill including one that will change how the tax is calculated on homes adapted for use by people with disabilities.
Cabinet will hear that it will provide a reduction of €105,000 in the chargeable value of a property that has been adapted. This is an increase of €50,000 on the previous act and would come into effect on November 1.
As a result, people with disabilities and living in an adapted home will assess the value of their property at one valuation band lower when calculating their LPT charge.
National Training Fund
Higher education minister James Lawless will seek to unlock the National Training Fund package of almost €1.5bn when he brings the heads of the bill to Cabinet.
The package would provide €650m in core funding for higher education; €150m to provide training facilities for veterinary, medicine, nursing, pharmacy and dentistry students; €150m capital funding for the further education and training sector; and more.
The amendment will allow Mr Lawless to bring the legislation before the Dáil and commence spending from the fund in 2025, if approved.
North-South Ministerial Council
Ahead of a meeting of the North-South Ministerial Council in Armagh this Friday, Mr Martin and Mr Harris will brief Cabinet on the agenda which will include trade and AI.
The meeting, which will be attended by most ministers, will also discuss infrastructure investments and tackling gender-based violence.
Well-Being Framework Analysis
Meanwhile, Taoiseach Micheál Martin will bring a memo on Ireland's Well-Being Framework Analysis for 2025, which is due to help outline Government's priorities for the upcoming budget.
The report itself highlights a number of groups who are faring worse than others in society, including renters paying market rates, unemployed people, younger workers, people in poor health as well as lower-income households.
However, the report does show progress in other areas, including on income, work and job quality and community participation.
Presidency of EU
Ahead of Ireland's presidency of the European Union next year, Mr Harris will outline the significant preparations already underway.
Over the course of the presidency, 23 informal ministerial meetings will be held in Ireland with a quarter of them to take place outside of Dublin.
The European Political Community summit will mark the largest meeting Ireland has ever hosted involving leaders of 47 states as well as heads of EU institutions and international organisations.
Mr Harris will tell Cabinet that delivering a successful presidency is essential to Ireland's position, influence and reputation in the EU.
Work to decide Ireland's policy priorities for the presidency will intensify in the autumn but there are plans for a programme of community, youth and schools engagement around the presidency, which will have a particular focus on children and young people.
National Digital Research Centre
Minister for enterprise Peter Burke will bring a memo to Cabinet indicating that the National Digital Research Centre (NDRC) is to extend its current contract with current provider DogPatch Labs until 2026.
The decision to extend was taken to provide certainty to companies supported by the NDRC ensure there is no break in coverage while Mr Burke works with his department and Enterprise Ireland on the successor programme which will take over in 2027.
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