BY JOHN ELLIS, FINANCIAL ADVISOR
Budget 2026 was revealed by Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe and Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers on Tuesday. It painted a picture of fiscal restraint wrapped in “strategic priorities”.
Gone are the flashy give-aways of €2,000 to €3,000 to the middle earners. Instead, this is a Budget that whispers “not yet” to the cost-of-living weary, opting for VAT reductions on burgers and builders leaving the ordinary people feeling sidelined, wondering when it will be their turn. Overall, spending surges by €9.4 billion to €117 billion next year, with €19 billion earmarked for infrastructure, the unglamorous essentials like roads and railways.
Social welfare gets a €2 billion top-up, health €1.2 billion, and public sector pay hikes another €1.2 billion, swelling the Civil Service ranks by 13,500 to 440,000 employees. Core payments like the State pension, jobseeker’s benefit, and disability allowance rise by €10 weekly from January 2026, alongside a 65-cent hourly increase to the minimum wage (€14.15). Christmas bonuses for 1.47 million recipients remain, to stave off grumbles over axed one-offs.
Then there are the sweeteners for sectors that have lobbied hard. Hospitality and hairdressers received a VAT reduction from 13.5% to 9% from July 2026, a lifeline for restaurants still reeling from post-pandemic blues. New apartment sales get the same cut immediately, potentially adding €70,000-€80,000 in viability per unit. Home-building gets further nudges via tax perks, and a derelict property tax is to take effect in 2027.
Education, a mixed bag, sees Third Level fees reduced permanently to €2,500 from January, though it’s a net €500 hike from last year’s one-off. Carers rejoice with increases to €1,000 (single) and €2,000 (couple), the “largest ever,” boasts Social Protection Minister Dara Calleary, letting part-timers earn up to €54,000 without losing benefits.
Fuel Allowance increased by €5 to €38 weekly or a €532 lump sum from January, extended to 50,000 Working Family Payment households by March. Child Support Payments up also, €8 for under-12s, €16 for over-12s.
But here’s the sting: petrol and diesel jumped two cents a litre at midnight post-announcement, and a 50 cent hike on a pack of 20 cigarettes.
“Every Budget is about choices,” Donohoe said, eyeing a €5 billion surplus and swelling long-term funds to €24 billion by year’s end. Chambers called it a foundation-laying shift from “isolated needs” to “broader priorities” . Tax revenues, built up by corporation and income taxes, foot the bill without borrowing sprees.
Yet, the voices of dissent drowns out the applause. Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty branded it a “blueprint for never-ending crises,” breaking election pledges on housing, health, and rip-off prices. Labour’s Ged Nash sneered at a “Budget for burger barons and big builders”. Nurses’ leader Phil Ní Sheaghdha said the hospitality VAT cut could fund 11,400 more staff. SIPTU’s Joe Cunningham fumed that workers subsidise business breaks while inflation eats away at their wages – no real gains, just cuts masked as prudence.
Even measured voices, like Family Carers Ireland, lamented scant comfort for strained families, while the Disability Federation decried income drops for those unable to work.
This is the Coalition’s gamble. This the first of five Budgets, and they have resisted the urge to splash the cash. Ireland’s economy is in good shape, why not save for storms ahead? Ibec cheers the innovation drive, and rightly so; viable housing schemes could finally arrive.
But this prudence borders on stinginess when rents devour pay checks and A&E waiting lists continue. Where’s the help for renters, the tax break on energy gouging? This Budget safeguards the future, sure, but at what cost now? It’s a steady hand, not a lifeline, leaving many to wonder: are we building castles in the air while the ground shifts beneath us?
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