Budget 2024: Increase in social welfare and pensions set to be included

Michael Bolton

The coalition party leaders and Minister's Michael McGrath and Paschal Donohoe met late into the night working out the details of Budget 2024.

However, it is understood some key issues are still outstanding and more talks are likely to continue on Monday.

Tuesday's budget marks the first for Fianna Fáil's Michael McGrath as Minister for Finance.

His predecessor, Paschal Donohoe, will be close at hand though, announcing the measures alongside Mr McGrath as Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.

€15 weekly increases to social welfare payments and the pension are among the latest measures expected to be included in Tuesday's budget.

It is also expected there will be an increase of students grants announced in the budget.

From January, over 50,000 students may see a rise of over 300 euro for the academic year.Postgraduate students may also see significant increases in their grants.

There's also likely to be some relief for those who've been faced with higher mortgage repayments in the past year, while there will also be one-off measures to help people cope with the cost-of-living, however its likely to be far smaller than the giveaways of last year.

But there are still some outstanding measures to be agreed and its likely the party leaders and finance ministers will be holding further talks throughout the course of Tuesday.