Likely September budget will help families 'immediately': Taoiseach

Micheál Martin says Budget 2023 will help hard-pressed families, but warned that it must not add to inflationary pressure

Taoiseach Miche​ál Martin said Budget 2023 'has to combine pay, tax, and the core expenditure envelopes for every department,' after Friday's Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

The budget will include "immediate" measures to help households with the cost of living, the Taoiseach has said.

Speaking after a special meeting of the Fianna Fáil party, Micheál Martin said members had raised childcare, pensions, and measures to mitigate costs for families as the key priorities ahead of Budget 2023.

After listening to calls for action from his backbench TDs and senators, Mr Martin said: 

The Budget gives us an opportunity to do something in the immediate [term] and we will be, in terms of funding going to people this calendar year to offset increases that will be coming.

A €200 energy rebate, an increase of at least €10 to pensions, as well as measures to help with fuel poverty are among the items already being floated ahead of the budget, which is now expected to be brought forward to September.

Mr Martin said: "We're looking at a budget that has to combine pay, tax, the core expenditure envelopes for every department going into the next 12 months, along with a cost of living package which will have immediate application or certainly application in this calendar year to take the pressure off.

"We have economic growth but, on the other side, we've had very significant inflation and we must develop a package that doesn't add to that inflationary round, and we don't create second and third rounds, but that does help to alleviate pressures on people," he said.

Tangible benefits

Minister for Public Expenditure, Michael McGrath, told party members that a cost of living package would deliver immediate tangible benefits for the most vulnerable and said working families would see a reduction in health and childcare costs.

A large number of members raised the cost of childcare, with senators Lorraine Clifford Lee and Catherine Ardagh calling for a serious intervention to bring down the cost for parents. 

The meeting also heard calls for a nationalisation of childcare in the longer term with some members pointing to the fact that the State had intervened during the pandemic to support the sector.

Calling for a relaxation of lending rules, Cork East TD James O'Connor told the meeting that the Central Bank is a "disgrace".

Pension age

The Taoiseach suggested that the pension age will not go beyond 66, but PRSI contributions will have to increase in the medium term to pay for this.

"There was a good discussion on pensions and members of parliamentary party wanted clarity on the Fianna Fáil position on that.

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"I made the point that we didn't see the age going beyond 66, but that then would have implications for PRSI increases in the medium term.

"There has to be give and take in respective of either PRSI or the age question but, above all, we have to work with our coalition partners on finalising that whole area. There was a clear groundswell within the parliamentary party that they want the pension age retained at 66," Mr Martin said.