Budget add-ons good for workers, gay couples and business sector

Just when you might have thought you’d heard the last of the budget, the Finance Bill appears.

Despite all the budget day theatre, the budget speech given by Finance Minister Michael Noonan in Dáil Eireann has no legal standing.

All the things he announced, the cuts in universal social charge, new tax breaks for the self-employed and all the rest, can’t happen unless they are included in the Finance Bill. That piece of legislation was published late last week.