Budget 2023

November 2022

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Brussels tips Ireland to escape worst even as EU flirts with recession

Ireland’s economy is a relatively bright spot in what promises to be a bleak winter for the rest of the bloc.

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Surplus grew in October but officials say tax boom won’t last into 2023

The latest figures from the Department of Finance confirm the dramatic improvement in the public finances following Covid, but officials say bumper corporate tax levels are not expected to be matched next year.

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October 2022

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Outgoing OECD tax chief backs Paschal Donohoe to remain as Eurogroup chair

Paschal Donohoe’s Eurogroup job is “clearly a plus” for Ireland, the architect of a global tax deal has said.

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Budget gives slight boost to gloomy Irish consumers, survey shows

Last month’s Budget helped to ease some of the financial concerns of consumers, but they continue to remain gloomy about prospects for the coming year.

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Ireland paid €300m net into the EU budget last year

Ireland paid €300m more into the EU budget last year than it got out, according to the bloc’s auditors.

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Social welfare bonuses: dates for extra child benefit, pensions, fuel and host of other payments revealed

Payment dates for the €1.2 billion suite of Budget lump-sum supports to people are announced today.

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Gallery

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‘I have a long journey ahead of me, I hope, in politics’ – Paschal Donohoe says his fate as Eurogroup chief is in the hands of others

Paschal Donohoe doesn’t want to talk about it.

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Corporation taxes continue to pour in above forecast

The public finances further improved in September, with an additional €1.6bn in taxes collected during the month compared to the same time last year.

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Eurozone finance ministers call for united response to energy crisis

Euro area finance ministers have agreed to refrain from giveaway budgets and “harmful tax adjustments” in 2023 to try to curb spiking prices.

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September 2022

Renters as well as home buyers will carry cement levy burden

The concrete levy introduced in this year’s budget is also set to impact renters, as well as people buying new homes, the ERSI has warned.

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Budget ‘won’t help’ SMEs to survive the winter, says ACCA Ireland and Grant Thornton survey

More than two-thirds of Ireland’s SMEs don’t think the Budget did enough to help them survive the winter and 80pc think higher costs will force them to lay off staff in coming months, according to a survey from accountancy body ACCA Ireland and Grant Thornton.

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Budget 2023: The timeline for when the new measures that were announced come into effect

Paschal Donohoe and Michael McGrath yesterday revealed an €11bn Budget to see the country through the next 12 months of uncertainty.

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Premium

Looking at Budget spending through prism of equality yields a fairer result

Is the Budget fair? Each year, we look at the Government’s spending plan for the next 12 months and try to figure out who benefits the most from it. Who did it help? Who did it leave behind? But sometimes, analysis can incorrectly suggest that everyone is starting from an equal basis. We talk about what people “got” or “will get” in a vacuum, without considering that these same people may be starting from a far lower or higher base than the rest of us.

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Gallery

A Budget pledge broken: Just over half of the 800 Garda recruits promised for this year will be delivered

The Government will fall significantly short of its Garda recruitment targets for 2022.

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Gallery

‘You get a budget for everyone else but there is no clarity for us’ – Childcare providers feel ignored in Budget 2023

Budget 2023 has not provided any clarity for the childcare sector and some providers may be forced to close as a result, the owner of a preschool in Dublin has said.

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That was the Budget that was

Poor old Pearse Doherty. He did Trojan work in taking on the dam burst of Government donations left, right and centre. We liked his line claiming “champagne corks will be flying tonight” among developers, as the Government “continues to roll out the red carpet”.

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Tech sector sees tax credit and employee share scheme extensions

The tech sector has given a cautious welcome to the extension of tax credits around intellectual property and employee share schemes in Budget 2023.

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Gallery

‘The money we’ve saved doesn’t get us what we want anymore’ – family with own business on the pressure to keep costs down

Frederique van Buuren lives with her partner Jos and their two daughters – aged 12 and nine – in the foothills of the Wicklow Mountains. Originally from the Netherlands, they have been living in Ireland since 2007.

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‘The devil will be in the detail’ – €1.2bn supports set aside for small firms leaves restaurants wanting more

The Restaurants Association of Ireland has insisted that €1.2bn set aside by the Government to help small and medium-sized businesses cope with soaring energy costs “does not go far enough”.

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Growth sting: Inflation is heading for double digits this year and there’s a 2008 level of pessimism forecast for next year

Inflation is here to stay and a mini (domestic) recession is on the way, in an economic sting in the tail of the larger-than-expected €11bn Budget package.

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Budget 2023: Relief for students – but universities say funding provided was ‘very disappointing’

The Budget brought immediate relief for college students, with a €1,000 cut in fees this year – but universities are critical of the funding they will receive for 2023.

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€47m initiative on free books and drive for smaller classes at primary level, but teacher unions say it's not enough

A long-overdue €47m-a-year initiative to supply free school books for every primary pupil caught the public imagination in the €11bn Budget 2023.

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Sector requires long-term vision and brave strategies rather than a 'here and now' plan

There was much debate on social media in the past few days over how many thousand people marched in the capital over the cost of living.

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Gallery

Budget 2023: Dairy farmer and father-of-three ‘pleasantly surprised’

Farmer Cormac Browne was pleasantly surprised with Budget 2023.

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Gallery

Budget 2023: ‘It’s such a struggle’ – childcare providers and parents hit hard

Childcare providers are struggling to make ends meet and are at risk of burnout, the owner of a preschool in Dublin has said.

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Budget 2023: Reduction of creche fees a ‘lifeline for parents’ but industry warns it is just a sticking plaster

Families will have to make “near impossible” choices if the Government does not make more radical reforms in the childcare sector, Ireland’s largest public service trade union has warned.

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Budget 2023: Hospital inpatient charges to go as feelgood announcement provides a few wins in healthcare

Two of the Budget’s big-ticket items – the abolition of hospital inpatient charges and the planned extension of GP visit cards – provided some health service wins yesterday.

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Budget promises extra GP cards and end of hospital charges in April but no IVF funding until late 2023

The abolition of inpatient hospital fees and the extension of GP visit cards are due to roll out next April, but limited publicly funded IVF treatment will not start until the second half of next year.

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Caroline O’Doherty Opinion Carbon tax brings consistency to a crazy climate for energy reforms as cost goes up to €48.50 per tonne

In a budget of giveaways and blow-softeners, it fell to the carbon tax to elicit the necessary grumbles from the opposition benches.

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‘If I was to pack my job in and rely on welfare I could get my house retrofitted for free’ – Working mum hits out at income limits for energy upgrades

A mother-of-two from Dublin has criticised the Government for not raising the threshold for retrofitting grants far enough as part of its Budget 2023 measures.