A 50c hike on cigarettes and a €28million stimulus to provide free contraception for women are likely to be two of the key measures announced in Tuesday’s Budget.
Other expected changes include an extra €5 in the State pension along with a boost to all core welfare payments.
It’s also likely that extra funding will be provided for the fuel allowance to give households more support to deal with rising energy costs.
And about 500,000 people who are working from home are also expected to benefit from measures that would allow householders to claim back up to 30% of their household power bills.
The suggested Budget boost would relate to heating, electricity and broadband monthly charges.
There will also be changes to income tax bands that will enable two-thirds of employees to hold onto a bigger percentage of their pay. However, diesel and petrol prices, which are already at their highest point in seven years, are set to jump up again due to a carbon tax levy increase.
Junior Transport Minister Hildegarde Naughton on Saturday insisted supporting regional airports and attracting international visitors will be a key priority when quizzed on a reports of a €90million
financial aid package.
She told RTE Radio 1’s Katie Hannon: “This is about Donegal Airport, Kerry Airport, Ireland West Airport, Knock as well as Cork and Shannon and, of course, Dublin Airport.
“And what we want to do is to ensure, and this is Government priority, that we get international tourism back into Ireland.”
“It’s particularly important for the regions where Ireland, and
I suppose America, to get that transatlantic flights back up and running again.”
Elsewhere, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly on Saturday insisted the country needs to significantly ramp up the number of medical specialists in the system.
He told the Irish Hospital Consultants Association annual conference the country required far more qualified people in this area and there are currently 250 vacant posts.
Minister Donnelly also stressed there were “far too many” others filled on a non-permanent basis and a collaborative approach was needed between the public and private system.
He said: “We must do things differently than we have in the past. We must innovate and we must be bold and disruptive in our thinking.”
