Double social welfare payment at Christmas on the cards for Budget 2026
Government sources indicated social protection minister Dara Calleary is pressing for the annual Christmas bonus double payments on key welfare entitlements, including the State pension and jobseekers allowance. Picture: Jason Clarke
A double payment of core social welfare rates at Christmas is on the cards, as negotiations ramp up for next Tuesday’s budget.
Government sources indicated social protection minister Dara Calleary is pressing for the annual Christmas bonus double payments on key welfare entitlements, including the State pension and jobseekers allowance.
One source described the annual Christmas bonus as almost being a “permanent fixture”, citing its prevalence in budgets throughout recent years.
Mr Calleary is also pressing for a €12 hike in the core social welfare rates.
Speaking in the Dáil on Tuesday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the overall social protection package could be as high as €1.8bn.
On the carer’s allowance, Mr Martin said it would cost around €600m to abolish outright the means test, saying the Government would instead phase it out across its term.
He said the Government would work to “balance” changes to the carer’s allowance, saying the Coalition wanted to take action on other welfare entitlements such as the Domiciliary Care Allowance.
Meanwhile, the reduction of the Vat rate to 9% on the building of new apartments is “more likely than not”, one Government source said.
It is understood that it has been under consideration for a number of months.
However, multiple Government sources highlighted that many major decisions for next Tuesday’s budget will go down to the wire.
It is expected that most items will be agreed either on Sunday or Monday, including the Social Protection budget.
Meanwhile, it is expected that health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill will seek to maintain their current budget, with plans to focus on productivity.
One source said the health budget would aim to do “the right things with what we have”, citing the work of implementing the public-only consultant contracts.
Arts minister Patrick O'Donovan, meanwhile, will push for an extension and possible expansion of the basic income scheme for artists.
First launched as a pilot project in 2022, the scheme offers €325 a week to 2,000 people in the arts in Ireland. Thousands more who were eligible applied.
A recently published review of the scheme found that for every €1 put into it, €1.39 of economic value was obtained.
Speaking in New York last week, Mr O'Donovan said that he believes the scheme is worthwhile and should be extended.
"Everybody talks about Ireland being a leader in terms of its cultural output over the last number of years, and really being in a position where you can hold a mirror up against the world and up against society and things like that.
"In order to do that, you have to take away the precarious nature of what incomes people are deriving from it," he said.
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