Irish budget: Personal tax cuts and cost-of-living help announced

The Republic of Ireland’s finance minister has announced personal tax cuts and cost-of-living supports in a giveaway pre-election budget.

There is growing speculation that the election will be held before Christmas.

Official figures published last week suggest Ireland will run a €25bn budget surplus this year, partially due to a huge tax windfall from Apple.

The minister, Jack Chambers, said that windfall will be set aside for investment in infrastructure.

Further details of how it will be spent will be laid out early next year.

Chambers said the money has “the capacity to be transformational” and will be used to tackle “known challenges” in housing, energy, water and transport infrastructure.

“Infrastructure is a fundamental component of Ireland’s competitiveness, and is vital to businesses, large and small, and to attracting new foreign investment into the State,” he added.

The budget included €8.3bn in tax cuts and spending increases alongside one-off cost of living supports worth a further €2.2bn.

Chambers said his departmental forecasts suggest Ireland’s domestic economy will grow by 2.5% next year and 3% next year.

However the country’s infrastructure has not kept pace with that growth and significant investment is needed in energy, water and housing.

The coalition’s record on housing has been the key point of attack for the main opposition party, Sinn Féin.

Sinn Féin had been performing strongly in opinion polls but seen a significant dip in support in recent months.