Budget 2025 has been described by an opposition TD as a “shallow but expensive exercise in government propaganda.”
Independent TD for Laois Offaly, Carol Nolan, claimed that the headline measures included in the bumper cost-of-living budget would have “little to no long-term benefit.” She also said that the introduction of a one-off newborn baby grant, included in Tuesday’s budget, would exclude any children born this December as child benefit is not paid in the month that a baby is born.
“I submitted parliamentary questions to the Minister on this first thing this morning on behalf of my constituent and I hope that the matter will be resolved. Currently, this problem means that parents will miss out on two double payments and will not be eligible for the newborn baby grant. We need it resolved, as I say,” Nolan told the Taoiseach on Wednesday.
It comes as the Society of St. Vincent De Paul described this week’s Budget as one of “temporary supports.” The Irish charity said that while winter payments are welcome, many people will continue to struggle on a weekly basis despite the giveaway Budget.
In a statement, SVP said that not enough was being done to support households, and that the permanent increases included are “not enough to help keep pace with the cost of living” in the State.
The Society said that while prices are now increasing more slowly, the cost of living crisis hasn’t gone away.
“Prices for essential goods and services are now significantly higher than they were in 2020,” it said. “The €12 per increase announced in the budget makes up some ground but falls far short of the €20 we recommended to restore the rate to 2020 levels. In the last four years there has been a cumulative increase of 16.8% in the costs of meeting a Minimum Essential Standard of Living, the amount needed to make sure people can afford a basic but decent standard of living.”
Deputy Nolan, in a pointed critique, questioned where the government had taken action in dealing with the hardships created for disabled drivers and passengers when trying to access a primary medical certificate – referring to the roughly 1,000 appeals that have been lodged regarding the issue.
“Those 1,000 appeals surely could have been upheld and that money could have been given to something like this which is so urgent and so pressing. A constituent brought it to my attention yesterday,” the TD said.
“In terms of agriculture, the ICMSA president, Mr. Denis Drennan, has said while welcomed the extension of a number of reliefs up to 2027, farmers would be disappointed that the long-standing and crippling issue of income volatility has not been dealt with in budget 2025,” Deputy Nolan continued.
“What about the haulage sector? Hauliers have seen tens of thousands of euros in costs being added to operations through ridiculous increases in carbon taxes and through fuel increases and toll increases. That is a sector that creates huge employment, particularly in rural Ireland. It is so important to the rural economy, along with agriculture and the small businesses. It should have been looked after.”
The Independent politician went on to say that Irish SMEs “woke up this morning still trapped in the 13.5% VAT rate.”
“The devil is in the details with this budget. People will not be fooled by the political electioneering. My fear is that if more of the businesses such as the small restaurants and cafés close, it will lead to job losses. We have already seen 577 close. It is disgraceful that they were not looked after.”
Fellow opposition TD, Mattie McGrath, reacting in the wake of Budget day, said that despite its promises of tax cuts, increased welfare payments and infrastructural projects, it “continues the trend of wasteful spending.”
He blasted the cost of the new children’s hospital, the government bike shed, as well as the recent allocation of millions of euros for mobile phone pouches for school children.
“The Government has been criticised for the runaway cost of projects like the new children’s hospital, which is old at this stage, the hut outside Government Buildings, which cost €1.4 million, and a bike stand that cost €336,000.
“Now, €9 million has been allocated for mobile phone pouches for school children, a decision that has raised eyebrows as another example of the reckless nature of this Government’s spending. It is outrageous. For a nation that struggled to balance the books after the Celtic tiger’s collapse, this fiscal largesse feels surreal and reckless,” Deputy McGrath said.
“The current budget, reminiscent of the boom-and-bust spending of the Celtic tiger era, is seen as a squandered opportunity. The Government’s failure to support the 305,000 small and medium-sized businesses, particularly in the struggling tourism and hospitality sectors, is glaring. These sectors continue to bear the burden of the highest VAT rate in Europe, leading to business closures. We have been told as much.
“The sectors lobbied the Government and believed it would listen, but it is not listening to anyone. It is in a bubble and does not care what it does with people’s money. These sectors also have the highest energy costs in Europe. How is that the case? They also have to deal with the minimum wage increase and the so-called auto-enrolment pension scheme, representing more expenses for people already trying to do so much paperwork.”
Meanwhile, Rose McGowan, National President of SVP, said that the double child payment benefit would “benefit all children,” but that the opportunity “to use this government’s last budget to give permanent additional support to the children who need it most was missed” because to inadequate increases in the Qualified Child Increase.
“As a consequence we fear the families SVP support will continue to forego essentials on a weekly basis as the QCI is not enough to meet their weekly needs,” she added.
“While once off payments will help people this winter and provide temporary support to people living in poverty, the real value of weekly social welfare payments, including essential targeted payments for children, has been eroded by the increasing cost of essentials like food, rent and energy. Households need to budget on a weekly basis and needed an adequate weekly increase in social welfare payments to reflect this. They need stability over the longer term.
“The Budget measures have not tackled the underlying insecurity for people in poverty, who are often one unexpected bill or rent increase away from a crisis. We still have 890,000 people in material deprivation of which 230,000 are children and 550,000 people at risk of poverty of which 170,000 are children” she said.
Nessan Vaughan, Chair of the SVP Social Justice Committee added “The social protection system must move in line with other European countries and use a benchmarking approach to make sure it provides a decent standard of living and prevents poverty.
“Benchmarking the basic rate of social welfare to the cost of a Minimum Essential Standard of living would mean that rates would never be so low that people are unable to afford essentials such as food, utility bills, housing, transport, basic household goods and having the means to participate in our community.”