Childcare, social welfare, aviation and tourism are expected to get a boost in the Budget on Tuesday, Leo Varadkar has indicated.
But the Tanaiste wouldn’t be drawn on whether the price of drink would go up.
He said a “big part” of the Budget will be spent on a welfare and pension package.
Speaking to reporters in Co Leitrim on Friday, Mr Varadkar said: “What I can say is one of the things we are of course going to examine in the context of the Budget is the cost of childcare.
“It’s still the case for many people [that] childcare is like paying two mortgages or having to pay the rent twice every week and it’s also, from an enterprise and employment point of view, a barrier to people returning to the workplace.
“We’ve skill shortages across the economy.
“Many parents, particularly women but not exclusively women, can’t get back into the workplace because of the cost of childcare.
“So I think it is something that you’ll see the Government focus on in the years ahead.”
He said the Budget provides for an extra billion euro in new measures and a welfare package is needed to keep up with the cost of living.
Take our Budget survey here or below:
He said: “A big part of that is going to be taken up by the pension and welfare package and it needs to be with the rising cost of living, we need to see pensioners and others get a weekly increase.
“They haven’t got that now since 2019.”
He said money for other measures will be “relatively limited” when asked if there will be a major money package for the tourism industry.
He said Tourism Minister Catherine Martin will “fight the good fight” and he’s sure the sector will see an increase next year.
But he said he’s not too sure if it’ll be a doubling in investment - what the sector has requested.
The Fine Gael leader said an aviation package will also be a feature of the Budget as there’s a need to get international tourists back to Ireland in a bid to boost revenue.
He said: “That’s particularly important in the West of Ireland where American visitors and European visitors bring a lot of money into the region.
“I think where you will see a big move is on aviation supports to get those routes back into Knock, back into Shannon, back into Cork and Dublin.
“An aviation package is going to be a feature of the Budget.”
