Budget 2025 energy credit to be paid by end of year – Tánaiste
The Tánaiste has said the energy credit which will be announced in the budget will be paid to households before the end of the year.
With Budget 2025 now less than two weeks away, Micheál Martin is expected to hold further discussions on its overall shape with the Government party leaders tonight.
However, he said the specifics of the budget are still being worked out and could not say if one or two energy credits might be paid to households as part of the budget.
“I think the credits that will be paid will be this year though,” the Tánaiste told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.
The Tánaiste has said the cost of living is still high on the agenda for Budget 2025 as people are continuing to feel the pressure due to high inflation.
Cost of living, housing and health will be key priorities for the budget, Mr Martin said.
Inflation may have reduced, but prices are still high, he added.
He refused to be drawn on whether a second-tier child benefit might be introduced and pointed to a number of measures aimed at lowering costs for parents, such as the extensions of the free schoolbook scheme.
The Tánaiste accepted the point that cohorts of the population are not where they should be, but flatly denied suggestions that Ireland looks like a poor country in many aspects of society.
He told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland: “I accept we have an awful lot more to do in certain areas.
“But I do not accept the narrative of a failed state, which is the narrative of Sinn Féin, People Before Profit, because I think their model, they would disrupt the economic model that has been overall beneficial to this country, in my view.”
Day two of Fianna Fáil think-in
He was speaking as Fianna Fáil holds the second day of its policy think-in at Killiney Castle, Co Dublin, ahead of the return of the Dáil tomorrow.
Discussions at the think-in were set to focus on the budget, the cost of living, housing, health, education and childcare.
Addressing health, Mr Martin said waiting lists have been dramatically reduced while a national cancer strategy has seen survivor rates increase “exponentially” in the last 20 years.
“We’re now at the top rung of the EU table in terms of life expectancy,” he added.
In addition, the Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has brought in a number of initiatives to improve women’s health, Mr Martin said.
He acknowledged that more needs to be done in the area of special education and said the system for progressing disability has not worked for families.
This is why Fianna Fáil wants multi-disciplinary teams to be put into schools, starting with special schools, he said.
Mr Martin said the Apple money may come into the State coffers before next March, but it would not feature in Budget 2025.
However, aside from Apple, there will also be a significant surplus this year, he added.
The Tánaiste said the Apple money presents opportunities to future proof projects such as housing, water and expansion of the national grid.
He said the Government needs to plan ahead and give confidence to industry and the public that they can deliver on projects.
Mr Martin said: “The Apple money gives us additional capacity to say to people, if we ringfence it for housing, or certain proportion of it to housing, we can future proof house spending for the next five years on the capital side.”
Fianna Fáil ‘did right thing by the country’ – Martin
Mr Martin said Fianna Fáil did the right thing by the country when it entered the confidence and supply deal.
However, it may not have been the right thing by the party, he said.
He said: “Confidence and supply was a positive thing for the country in so far as Fianna Fáil contributed to a government at a time when Brexit happened, and Brexit was an existential threat at the time to our trade and economy. We did the right thing by the country.”
He said that housing targets will probably be revised before the end of the year.
However, targets are not a ceiling, the Tánaiste said.
Mr Martin pointed out that last year’s target, set by Housing for All, exceeded targets.
He also defended the delivery of social housing. 12,000 homes were delivered last year, he said.
“We’ve built more social houses in the last two to four years than we did for the previous decade,” he added.
Mr Martin said that forty thousand homes are projected to be completed by the end of this year.
Article Source – Budget 2025 energy credit to be paid by end of year – Tánaiste – RTE
