Budget 2026 Live: ACRES Scheme Gets Another €20m

The Finance Minister and Expenditure Minister are announcing details for Budget 2026.

Good afternoon, welcome to our live Budget 2026 coverage.

Coverage is with thanks to Milne O'Dwyer in Tullamore.

The Federation of Early Childhood Providers says many of its members are "hugely disappointed" by today’s Budget. 

Chairperson Elaine Dunne acknowledges an extra €125m for the sector, but says providers were hopeful more would be done: 

Sinn Fein Finance spokesperson, Pearse Doherty is up next.

He says the Finance and Public Expenditure Ministers' speeches were "dripping with arrogance" and offered nothing for the ordinary households:

He adds - it's a nothing budget which is very different from what the coalition promised during last year's election:

Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers signs off with a statement of confidence in the State's future:

Defence

Net increase of 400 defence force members.

50 new civilian posts.

70 critical civil servants including in the area of cyber security.

Funding for a new Defence Forces Uniform.

Money for military radar programme, new body armour, armoured personnel carriers and general modernisation.

Justice

200 civilian gardai added to the 1,000 gardaí announced earlier.

€19m increase in the garda overtime budget.

€39m extra for the prisons service.

€11m extra for the courts service.

Shared Island

Doubling of resources for the Shared Island Scheme by a further €1bn out to 2035.

Support the Narrow Water Bridge and a Dublin to Derry airlink.

Art

The pilot basic income scheme for artists is to be made permanent

Sport

€10.7m increase in budget for sport Ireland

3m of that will support establishment of League of Ireland football academies

Education

1,717 additional SNAs in 2026.

1,042 extra teaching posts including 860 additional special needs teachers.

Money to implement the DEIS+ plan.

Increase in the capitation rates paid to schools by €50 at primary and special and €20 for post primary.

€500 reduction in the student contribution fee.

Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers explains says it is a permanent measure:

Creating 1,100 new places for studying key health and social care professions.

Money for two new veterinary medicine colleges to almost double the number of vet graduates.

Establishment of a national artificial intelligence office to provide a focal point for AI development.

The Minister explains why:

Farming

€85m in additional funding to tackle bovine TB.

€20m extra for the ACRES scheme.

€20m for the continuation of the national sheep welfare scheme.

Overseas

€30m extra for overseas development age

Childcare

Extra 35,000 children set to benefit from the National Childcare Scheme.

Measures to improve Year 5 of pay for educators and school age children practitioners.

Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers says 2,300 extra childcare places will come through the Building Blocks programme.

Health

Increase in 220 acute hospital beds and expansion of diagnostic services.

- 280 community beds

- Extra 1.7m home support hours

- 500 more nursing home places

- Increased staffing of mental health services

Social Welfare

Fuel allowance will increase by €5 weekly to €38.

Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers says he's also extending it to those in receipt of the working family payment:

There will be an extra €600m for the disability budget.

The back to school clothing and foot ware allowance is being extended to two and three year olds

Child support payment increase by €8 per week for under 12s and 16 per week for over 12s.

Working family payment also rising by €60 per week.

Increasing the carer's allowance income disregard to €1,000 for a single person or €2,000 for a couple.

Domiciliary Care Allowance up by €20 to €380 per month.

€10 per week increase in the social welfare payment for 1.5m people.

The social welfare Christmas Bonus for 1.5m people will be paid at a double rate of the normal payment.

Water

€12.2bn is being announced for capital expenditure on water and waste water services.

€1.4bn of that will go to Uisce Eireann.

Housing

Housing budget of €11.3bn with €7.2bn in capital funding for new social homes, starter homes programme, urban regeneration, housing activation office, 17,000 grants to retrofit older people's homes.

Jack Chambers says that will include €7.2bn in capital funding:

State Staffing

There will be 12,500 additional public sector staff.

3,370 in health, 2,600 in education, and 1,000 gardaí.

Paschal Donohoe tells the Dáil any budget that attempts to do everything in one go weakens our ability to be safe in a turbulent world. 

He commends the budget to the house and receives a modest round of applause.

Health

50c added to a pack of 20 cigarettes with a pro rata increase on other tobacco products

Agriculture

The farm consolidation relief, farm restructuring relief, and young trained farmer reliefs are extended until the end of 2029.

Energy

9% VAT rate cut on gas and energy extended to the end of December 2030.

Carbon tax rises to €71 per tonne from tomorrow for auto fuels, and other fuels from the 1st of May 2026

Additional revenue is expected to be €121m in 2026 and will be ringfenced for climate projects.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe says additional revenue will be ringfenced for climate projects:

The €400 income disregard for income from household microgeneration selling to the grid has been extended to the end of 2028

Minimum Wage:

The minimum wage will rise by 65c an hour to €14.15ph.

The Finance Minister says it will come into effect on January 1st:

Tax Policy:

The VAT rate for the food and catering businesses and hairdressing services to reduce to 9% from the 1st of July 2026

Costing €232 million in its first year and €681m in a full year

The government commits to make progressive changes on income tax, but not in this budget.

The ceiling for the 2% band of USC will increase by €1,318 to €28,700 to take account of increased minimum wage.

The renters tax credit is being extended to the end of 2028.

Mortgage interest relief will extend for a further two years, with a reduced rate in the final year.

Increase in the gains someone can have under the entrepreneur relief from €1m to €1.5m.

The Research and Development tax credit will increase from 30% to 35% and increasing the first year threshold from €75k to €87.5k.

The €481 film tax credit will be enhanced to provide a 40% rate for productions with a minimum spend of €1m on relevant visual effects work. It will have a cap of €10m per production.

The Digital Games Tax Credit extended to 31st December 2031 and to cover post release content work.

The State is reducing the tax rate to Irish and equivalent offshore funds and foreign life assurance products from 41% to 38%.

The Bank Levy is extended by a year with a target yield of €200m.

€5,000 VRT relief on electric vehicles extended to the end of December 2026

The benefit in kind on electric company cars will be €10,000 in 2026, €5000 in 2027, €2,500 in 2028 and scrapped in 2029.

Housing:

€5 billion for the Department of Housing next year including an extra €200m for Home Building Finance Ireland.

VAT rate on the sale of completed apartments will drop to 9% from midnight tonight until the end of December 2030.

Minister Donohoe on the VAT move:

The Living City initiative is being extended until 2030 and the scope increased to those built before 1915 and before 1975 and giving relief to support the use of over the shop spaces for residential development.

Athlone, Drogheda, Dundalk, Letterkenny and Sligo are being added to the scheme.

A new derelict property tax will be created to replace the derelict sites levy - it will be charged at a rate of no less than 7%.

The residential stamp duty refund scheme is being extended until the end of 2030 with some enhancements.

Further exemption in 2026 for the Residential Zoned Land Tax for those seeking to have land rezoned for genuine economic activity.

The profits arising from homes that fall under Cost Rental Schemes are to be exempted from corporation tax for developments on or after the 8th of October.

There will be a three year extension for the income tax deduction for small landlords who retrofit a property.

Minister Donohoe says the measure will help increase the number of houses:

There will be an enhanced corporation tax deduction for certain costs incurred during the building of apartments of the conversion of non-residential buildings to apartments for those that have a commencement notice issued after tomorrow.

Overall Package:

The Finance Minister is revealing this years Budget stands at €9.4 billion with €8.1 billion for public spending and a tax package of €1.3 billion.

The tax package is being reduced by €150 million, in order to give targeted supports for the most vulnerable.

The surplus this year is €10.2 billion , with a surplus next year of €5.1 billion.

€24 billion will be in the Future Ireland Fun and the Climate Nature Fund by end of next year rising to €40 billion  by end of this Governments term.