Budget 2021: Cashback for firms to combat Covid-19 crisis 

The minister did follow through on the commitment to increase the earned income credit for the self-employed. Picture: Andy Gibson

Paschal Donohoe, the finance minister, presented perhaps his most important Budget to date after a year that has pitched the country into isolation, the economy €21bn into the red, and businesses into defending their operations and their people. 

The focus was, as expected, on supporting business and employees, and the budget announced an unprecedented level of expenditure focused on getting businesses and employers through the rest of 2020 and 2021.