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Ministers have agreed a €3.6 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 puts 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.




Under the plan agreed this morning the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) will be closed to new entrants from July while a reduction in rates is expected to begin at the start of September.
Further reductions will be staggered across three phases over the following months.
This will mean that people 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 unchanged form until the end of September, and will continue at another rate until the end of the year, to be confirmed.
Training
More than 50,000 training scheme places on digital and green job programmes will also be created under the Government’s economic recovery plan.
Ministers have also signed off on an extension to the 9 per cent VAT rate for the hospitality sector until September 2022, with options to review supports for the sector after that. The 9 per cent rate had been due to expire at the end of this year.
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.
The party leaders announced the plan shortly after noon on Tuesday, and it will be published at a press conference in the afternoon.
It is expected that it will contain funding a for 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.
Separately, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe 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.
Borrowing
The extension of economic supports in the plan is expected to lead to additional spending of €3.6 billion, the bulk of which relates to the continuation of the PUP beyond the end of June.
As many people on the PUP would otherwise qualify for unemployment supports, the net cost to the exchequer will be lower.
Significant extensions to tax and PRSI warehousing and the extension of the 9 per cent VAT rate to September 2022 will increase the total gross cost of the measures being announced to close to €5 billion.
This is likely to increase borrowing this year by over €2.5 billion.
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.
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.
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.