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Ministers are meeting this morning to finalise the details of a €3.5 billion package of spending supports and measures to boost the economy as it slowly emerges from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The size of the funding package, to be confirmed later on Tuesday, will put it on a par with a conventional budget day of recent years.
Central to the plan is a series of reductions to support payments for employees and a focus on the provision of retraining and education places for people whose jobs have been destroyed by the pandemic.
Main measures expected:

Cut of €50 a week in PUP rates from September
More than 50,000 job placements
Wage subsidy scheme to be extended to end of September
9 per cent VAT rate for the hospitality sector to stay
Loan guarantee scheme to help retrofit homes
Funding for Cork suburban rail project

It is understood the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) could be closed to new entrants as soon as July.
The reduction in rates is expected to begin at the start of September, and will be staggered across three phases over the following months.
Under plans being considered, those on the highest rate, €350 per week, will see their payment cut to €300, while those in receipt of €300 per week will have their payment reduced to €250. The lowest rate, €250 per week, will come into line with the jobseekers’ allowance of €203.
The Emergency Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) will be extended in unchanged form until the end of September.
More than 50,000 training scheme places on digital and green job programmes will be created under the Government’s economic recovery plan, it is understood.
Sources suggested that cabinet will consider an extension to the 9 per cent VAT rate for the hospitality sector until September 2022, with options to review supports for the sector going forward. Such a step could still face opposition from the Department of Finance, however.
Another initiative planned is a new loan guarantee scheme that will provide homeowners with low-interest loans to retrofit their homes. This will cover losses on loans advanced by banks and other financial institutions for retrofitting. The aim is that by covering up to 80 per cent of losses, the interest rate for these loans when they are made to households will come down to around 3.5 per cent, sources said.
There will also be a new regional transport project, sources indicated. This may focus on a suburban rail project for Cork, which is a policy goal of the Green Party.
The recovery plan also commits to the introduction of a pilot basic income guarantee scheme for artists will be a priority for the recovery. It is understood that work will commence on the scheme, which has been championed by Minister for Arts and Culture Catherine Martin, this summer, with a view to rolling out a pilot in January next year.
Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe also brought a memo on property tax to cabinet on Tuesday which will see an end to the exemption for homes built after 2013.
Sources said the change will likely be enacted from next year, and would address the issue of around 100,000 homes not being eligible for the tax.
Climate
The spending to be announced will include almost €1 billion from the EU’s recovery fund, and there will be close attention paid to any policy commitments the Government gave in return for the money.
Climate action and education/training are expected to be the big winners in Tuesday’s funding pledges, with the majority of the EU recovery money going to those two areas.
Over half the €1 billion in EU funds will be devoted to climate action projects, including the first widespread national retrofitting programme.
The Department of Further and Higher Education is expected to receive €225 million in additional funding for projects, including €40 million for Technological Universities and €70 million for research projects in area of climate action and digital infrastructure. Solas, the State training agency, will see the largest investments, much of it for training schemes related to climate action.
Speaking ahead of the Cabinet meeting Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Michael McGrath said Ministers were trying to strike a “fair and proportionate balance” when unwinding the PUP and extending business support schemes.
He said tighter management of the public finances was an “essential ingredient” in the economic recovery.
Mr McGrath said these supports relied on borrowed money but stressed that any changes would be carried out in a phased manner.
In advance of the announcement, Sinn Féin spokesman on finance Pearse Doherty accused the Government of “pulling the rug” from under people on PUP with its plans to reduce the payment from September.
Mr Doherty told RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland that there was “a moral obligation” to support those who could not go back to work because of public health guidelines.
The supports would be phased out naturally as people started to go back to work, he said.
More than 125,000 people had already gone back to work since restrictions started to ease this year but not everyone would be able to go back to work in September due to public health restrictions, he said.
Workers in aviation, event management, hospitality and other sectors would still be restricted from returning to work, but the Government was effectively saying “we are cutting your supports and forget about ‘We’re all in it together’”.