Varadkar defends €14bn budget despite stinging opposition criticism

The Taoiseach has said the main objective behind the 2024 Budget was to help people cope with the cost-of-living crisis.

The 14 billion euro budget package released on Tuesday included a range of one-off payments.

These include, three electricity credits worth 450 euro; a winter fuel allowance lump sum of 300 euro; a 200 euro winter living alone allowance; a Christmas bonus for welfare recipients; and 250 million euro in one-off business supports.

The one-off payments were criticised by opposition parties for lacking “vision” and “ambition”.

Varadkar responded to the idea that the Budget was spread too thinly, and said these measures aimed to increase people’s standards of living in a climate of rising inflation.

“The real thinking behind this Budget was that, this is a Budget that was about helping people with the cost of living, helping people to have more money in their pockets,” he told RTE.

“The objective, really of any government, is that people’s living standard should rise every year that their income should rise faster than inflation, than the cost of living.

“That didn’t happen last year, because inflation was so high, it was 10%. I think this year, we’ll probably see incomes and inflation match.

“Next year we want that to be the year where people’s incomes rise faster than prices again, and that’s how you secure a real improvement in living standards.”

The budget also set up two new funds that will use Ireland’s multibillion-euro windfall from corporation tax receipts, mostly derived from multinational companies, to invest in future priorities, including support for the response to climate change.

Varadkar said the funds will be what people remember from the 2024 Budget.

“I think when people look back on this budget in 10 or 20 years time, that will be the reform that I think will be the most significant,” he said.

An overspend in the Department of Health was flagged as a pinch point ahead of Budget 2024.

Varadkar said the 2024 Budget allocation for health was “huge”.

“Since this government came to office we have 1000 more hospital beds, 20,000 more staff in our health service,” he said.

He added: “Look at how our health service is outperforming the NHS for example, better outcomes in stroke and cancer, longer life expectancy now in Ireland than almost anywhere in Europe and also healthcare is more affordable than it was before.”

Varadkar also stated that Ireland had proved that challenges in healthcare were not solely caused by lack of funding.

“We do accept that there is going to be a challenge when it comes to the health budget, particularly when it comes to hospitals,” he said.

“Some of that is down to financial control and financial management. But a lot of it is down to something else.”

He added: “The demand for health services increases every year with an ageing and growing population but something else is happening.

“There’s definitely a snapback in demand post-Covid that’s putting a lot of pressure on hospitals in particular.

“We understand that and we will be working with (the Health Minister) Minister Donnelly and the HSE to make sure that the health service is adequately funded for next year, but it isn’t all about money. And I think we’ve proven that in Ireland.”

Varadkar said the budget would facilitate the building of new affordable homes in efforts of tackling the housing crisis and rising homelessness it has resulted in.

“We exceeded our target for new home construction last year, and we will again this year I’m very confident of that,” he said.

“And we will increase our targets, we’re going to do that in the new year and (the housing Minister) Minister O’Brien is working on that at the moment.

“What’s in the budget when it comes to housing, confirmation that the budget for the Department of Housing next year will be more than 5 billion euros, the biggest ever.

“And that’s going to allow us to break all records when it comes to the provision of new public housing, that’s social housing, it’s affordable rental. It’s also affordable for purchase.”

Varadkar described homelessness as “one of the biggest problems we face”.