Tuesday, September 27th is Budget 2023 Day

Across the day on WLR, we'll have up-to-date Budget 2023 coverage across our on-air and online channels, in association with EY Waterford.

Experts from EY will take us through the pre and post-announcements including Ronan Clinton, Assurance Partner with EY who will look ahead to the day on Tuesday morning's Déise Today from 10am.

Then on Wednesday morning, Gillian Moore, Tax Director at EY will head a live studio panel as part of a Déise Today budget special from 10am.

Follow our live blog below for up-to-date news and announcements from Budget 2o23.

One-off measures announced today will hit the €4.9bn mark.

Another €6.1bn of extra spending has also been to announced as part of the Budget package.

Inflation will increase by 7% in 2023 according to government forecasts while it will total at 8.5% in 2022.
Non-energy core inflation is set to be 5.25% in 2022 and 4.5% in 2023.
Government expect employment growth to slow, but unemployment levels (currently 4.3%) to remain at low levels - modified domestic demand expected to operate at 1.25% downturn in 2023.
Public debt in Ireland is currently amounting to €44,000 per person at €225bn. This is one of the highest figures in the world.
Excise rate reductions of 21c on petrol and 16c per litre and 5.4c per litre in marked gas oil, 9% VAT rate for electricity and gas will be extended until 28th February 2023.
Corporation tax receipts are expected to exceed €20bn in 2022.

Key Points:

Income Tax Package: The standard rate band is set to increase by €3,200 to €40,000 for single people with proportionate increases for married couples and civil partners. This will see the rate rise from €45,800 to €49,000 for married couples in a one-income household.
Personal Tax Credit, Employee Credit and Earned Income Credit are all set to increase by €75
The ceiling of the second USC rate band will be increased from €21,295 to €22,920 to “support those on minimum wage”.
An increase of €12 per week in social welfare payments has been approved across the board.
Three domestic universal €200 electricity credits - once before Christmas and twice early next year.
A new Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme (TBESS) to assist businesses with their energy costs, at a cap of up to €10,000 per month.
Excise on pack of 20 cigarettes to increase by 50 cent, and on pro-rata basis for other tobacco produce.
Social welfare ‘Christmas bonus’ to be paid in early December, with a separate double payment of weekly rate in November.
A 25% reduction in weekly childcare fees, worth up to €2,100 - could save parents €175 a month.
A once-off €1,000 reduction in student contribution fees for eligible students; a once-off double monthly payment of SUSI maintenance grant; 10-14% increase in Susi grant from September
A Free School Books Scheme for primary school pupils from next year.
Funding for a further 1,190 SNAs and 680 teachers.
A €400 lump sum payment for Fuel Allowance recipients before Christmas.
A once-off payment of €500 for people living with disabilities, and €500 for those eligible for the Carer’s Support Grant.

Energy

The Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme (TBESS) from Revenue has been established to help businesses and will give back 40% of increased costs of electricity bills at a monthly cap of €10,000. It will be calculated by comparing average unit prices from 2021 to 2022 and operate on a self-assessment basis.
There will be a €600 euro electricity credit for all households. The first payment will come before Christmas and two more will follow in the New Year.
€100m has been made available to schools to combat rising energy costs while €10m has also been made available to third-level institutions.
€60m has been granted toward local authorities to combat energy costs.
€337m will be provided in grants for energy efficiency. This will fund 37,000 home energy upgrades.
A new low cost loan for residential retrofits has also been introduced.

Taxation

The government have announced a €1.1bn income tax package - which includes a €3,200 increase in the cut off rate to higher tax to €40,000.
The main tax credits (personal, employee, earned income) are being raised by €75.
The Home Carer tax credit is set to be increased by €100.
The second USC rate band (2% rate) will increase from €21,295 to €22,920 to take account of a minimum wage increase of 80c per hour.
USC concession for those with a medical card earning less than €60,000 per annum is being extended for another year.
Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohue TD has signalled a future move towards a third rate of income tax.
Further analysis is set to take place on a new third rate of income tax with a review set to be published before next year's Summer Economic Statement.
A new tax credit for renters of €500 a year has been confirmed. 400,000 people are set to benefit, and it can be claimed for 2022 and 2023.
The Help to Buy scheme has been extended at current rates until the end of 2024.
The pre-letting expenses for landlords is being doubled to €10,000 and the time a property must be vacant has been reduced from 12 months to just 6 months.
A tax has been introduced on vacant homes. It will apply to homes which are occupied for less than 30 days a year - and will be charged at a rate three times the Local Property Tax.
There will be a new Residential Zoned Land Tax. Local authorities such as Waterford Council are set to publish draft maps in November.
The residential development stamp duty refund scheme is being extended to the end of 2025.
To pay for the Mica redress scheme - a levy on concrete blocks, pouring concrete and some other concrete products will be introduced. It's expected to be a rate of 10% from April 2023 and will bring in €80m per annum.
Companies will be allowed to give employees €1,000 tax free a year by means of vouchers, up from the current cap of €500.
There will be a 50% excise relief for small independent cider producers.
There's been a halving of the cost to apply for a Special Exception Order for late night venues - down from €110 to €55.
A 9% VAT rate on the hospitality and tourism sectors will continue until the 28th of February 2023, and will rise to 13.5% afterward.
VAT on newspapers will be scrapped entirely from the 1st of January. The rate was previously at 9%.
VAT on defibrillators will also be scrapped entirely from January 1st.
VAT has also been scrapped from 9% to 0% on hormone replacement and nicotine replacement therapies.
Ireland is set to be part of the EU's windfall tax approach but the Minister of Finance has noted that Ireland will go it alone if required.
Bank levies have been extended for another year - which is set to bring in €87m per annum.
The price of a packet of 20 cigarettes will increase by 50c a box while there will also be a pro-rata increase on other tobacco products.
€2bn is set to go into the National Reserve - 'Rainy Day' fund this year, followed by a further €4bn in 2023.

Social Welfare

There will be a €600 euro electricity credit for all households. The first payment will come before Christmas and two more will follow in the New Year.
A lump sum of €400 will be provided under the fuel allowance.
A double social welfare payment will be provided in October to reflect the cost of living increase. The Christmas bonus has also been confirmed.
A double child benefit payment will be provided in November. A €500 lump sum has also been approved for those in receipt of the working family payment.
A €500 payment has been approved for carers and those living with a disability in November.
A €200 payment has been granted for those receiving the Living Alone allowance.
There will be a €12 increase across the board on all social welfare payments.
The working family payment thresholds will go up by €40 a week. Qualified child allowance will also go up by €2 a week.
Income thresholds for fuel allowance payees will increase from €120 to €200 above state pension.
The weekly fuel allowance means limit will increase to €500 for single persons and €1000 for a couple both over the age of 70.
The domiciliary care allowance has been increased by €20.50.

Education

There will be a €1,000 reduction in student contribution fees, while students are also set to receive a double SUSI grant payment.
There will be a €1,000 increase to postgraduate fee contribution grants.
There's been a reduction in student fees of €500.
The government have announced an increase of between 10-14% in student grant allowances.
The total granted under the post-graduate grant will also increase by €500.
686 additional teachers will be introduced to support those with special needs, as well as an additional 1,194 SNAs - bringing the total number to 20,300.
There will be a further reduction in the pupil teacher ratio by 1 point to 23:1 with 370 extra teaching posts created.
Funding has been provided for free school books for all primary school pupils.
There will be funding for 4,800 additional apprentice placements.

Health

A total budget of €23.4bn has been allocated to the Department of Health.
There are plans in place for the delivery of a further 650 acute and community beds by end of 2023
Funding will also be provided to recruit 6,000 additional staff to the health service.
€225m in extra money has been earmarked in a bid to growing tackle waiting lists - increasing the total budget to €443m.
€5m worth of investment is planned for oral health services.
A free contraception scheme will be extended to women aged between 16 and 30.
The government will also be providing supports for the first time for publicly funded IVF treatment.
€138m will be provided for disability services, along with €150m to support older people living at home and the National Dementia Strategy.
A €58m budget has been approved for mental health treatment.
€439m will also be provided for the government's ongoing response to the impact of Covid-19.

Childcare

A 25% reduction in the cost of childcare has been approved under the National Childcare Scheme at a cost of €121m - saving families up to €175 a month.

Housing

€1.7bn has been allocated for housing to deliver social housing build targets of 9,100 new homes.
A total of €6.2bn in funding has been granted for the Department of Housing.
€215m has been earmarked for the local authority affordable purchase scheme.
The AHB cost rental and shared equity schemes are set to deliver 5,000 new affordable homes next year.
A further €215m has been provided to tackle homelessness.
€930m has been allocated for the improvement and maintenance of water services.
€11m has been allocated for the continued response to the Ukrainian refugee crisis and for housing refugees.

Climate

€87m will be made available for retrofitting grants.
A carbon tax increase of €7.50 a tonne will go ahead as planned on October 12th - which will put up petrol and diesel prices by 2c a litre
However, the Government is reducing the National Oil Reserves Agency levy to 0% to offset the cost. This is worth 2c a litre.

Agriculture

€238m is being allocated from the Brexit Reserve Fund to cushion agriculture from the impacts of Brexit.
Five tax reliefs will be extended in the agriculture sector - Young trained farmer and farm consolidation stamp duty reliefs, farm restructuring CGT relief, young trained farmer and registered farm partnership stock reliefs.
There will also be accelerated capital allowances for farmers allowing them to build modern slurry storage facilities.

Transport and Infrastructure

Public transport fees will be reduced by 20% for people of all ages. There will be a further 50% fee reduction for those using a Youth Travel Card.
€2.6bn has been earmarked for The Department of Transport to progress BusConnects, MetroLink and Dart+.
Up to 185,000 households will also be passed by the National Broadband Plan next year.

Community and Justice

1,000 new Gardaí will be brought into Templemore Training College next year.
430 Garda civilian staff have been recruited.
200 new recruits will enter Templemore every three months over the coming years.
There will be a €5m increase in the Garda overtime budget to over €100m.
An extra 400 permanent Defence Force members will be recruited in 2023. The money is set to include pay and allowance enhancements for the existing membership.
There will also be a €35m increase in the capital allocation for the defence forces, which is in part used to fund primary radar capabilities.

Culture

€90m extra funding has been announced for Arts, Tourism, Culture and Media to help the sector recover from Covid implications.
€1.25m has also been granted to support Irish as a living language in the Gaeltacht.

Brexit, Ukraine and Northern Ireland

€4.5 billion euro of non-core expenditure has been earmarked to deal with 'risks' such as Brexit, Ukraine and the end of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The government have announced an increase of €100m euro for Irish Aid.
The Official Development Assistance will be more than €1.2bn in 2023. €75m of that will go to humanitarian needs in Ukraine.
€100m for the Shared Island Fund while there's also been a commitment for a further €500m under the NDP out to 2025.

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