With Budget 2024 moving closer and closer people are anticipating what to expect in the Government's potential €6.4 billion package.
This new budget will break down to a whopping €5.2 billion in additional public spending and €1.1 billion in taxation measures.
Although a lot of rumours have been circulating about what will be confirmed in September, with many groups demanding the most vulnerable be protected, nothing has been set in stone just yet.
READ MORE: Calls for Social Welfare payments to be raised by €25 per week
Here are two additions to Budget 2024 that have been confirmed alongside some measures that might be considered:
Pension
Pension increases have been promised by the Taoiseach to protect Ireland’s retired.
"I assure you there will be a further increase in the weekly pension and that will be in the Budget. The exact amount has not been decided yet,” he said in the Dáil earlier this year.
"That will have to be discussed between now and October and will have to be seen in the round of other things we want to do as a government.
"But certainly there will be a further pension increase."
Childcare costs
Furthermore, for parents, cuts to childcare have also been confirmed by Leo Varadakar.
“Minister O’Gorman has set the target of reducing childcare costs by 50 per cent,” he told the Irish Times previously.
"We kind of did half of that in the last budget. I am not sure we can go as far as 25 per cent in the next one but it certainly is our intention to bring about a further meaningful reduction in the cost of childcare for families.”
Working Families
Although nothing has been officially announced regarding working families, Varadkar has promised that they will not be forgotten in the upcoming package.
Child Benefit and social welfare payments
There has been much discussion about raising Child Benefit by €50 and social welfare payment by €25. This sentiment is shared by experts who have agreed the government need to protect these vulnerable groups.
Dr Sean Healy, the CEO of Social Justice Ireland previously told the Irish Sun: “In Budget 2024, Government should adopt recurring taxation and expenditure measures which prioritise the protection of the most vulnerable groups in our society and further protect them, if needed, from ongoing aspects of the cost-of-living crisis.”
Electricity credits
One of the big talking points of the upcoming Budget is the possibility of more electricity credits. Three have already been dished out and another is being discussed as a possibility for 2024.
Leo previously told RTÉ's Prime Time that another credit is “a possibility for the winter period when the bills are at their worst.”
He added that the government “can reinstate in the winter if prices don't come down”.
