John
McGuinness TD
BUDGET 2021 S U M M A R Y
O F
C H A N G E S
TD for Carlow-Kilkenny
Constituency Office: O’Loughlin Rd, Kilkenny. Tel: 056 777 0672 Email: john@johnmcguinness.ie
John
McGuinness TD TD for Carlow-Kilkenny
#ProtectingLivesAndLivelihoods #HopeForTheFuture
The following is an outline of the changes as announced in Budget 2021: COVID-19 has brought about enormous challenges for everyone. There has been no community in Ireland that has not been impacted by this virus. This Budget offers hope to these communities through investment in many important sectors of Irish society. The changes will have an impact on individuals and families. If you have any queries or concerns regarding these changes please feel free to contact me.
Agriculture •
€79 million additional funding for new Agri-environmental pilot schemes
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€25 million for staffing, operations and infrastructure for control checks of agri-food imports from and exports to Britain post-Brexit
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Farm consolidation stamp duty relief extended by 2 years to 31 December 2022
Establishment of National Food Ombudsman This is delivering on a commitment in the Programme for Government, ensuring fairness, equity, and transparency in the food chain by establishing a new authority called the National Food Ombudsman to enforce the Unfair Trading Practices Directive. This NFO will enforce EU wide rules on prohibited unfair trading practices in the food supply chain and will have powers to enforce this Directive, penalising those who breach regulations. The NFO will also have a specific role in analysing and reporting on price and market data in Ireland.
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Housing NEXT YEAR WILL BE THE BIGGEST INVESTMENT EVER IN HOUSING - €3.3 BILLION.
Affordable Housing •
€110 million for a new Affordable Purchase Shared Equity Scheme for first time buyers and a new cost rental model.
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€50m funding for our service sites scheme for subsidised housing making thousands of homes more affordable. Overall, 6,200 affordable homes will be delivered in 2021.
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€205m to be spent by the Land Development Agency in its progression of housing, including affordable homes on key strategic sites.
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Extension of Help to Buy Scheme at enhanced rate of €30,000 max or 10% of the purchase of new home end of 2021.
New Social Homes •
12,750 new social homes with 9,500 new builds through local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies.
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15,800 tenancies will be supported in the rental sector through the Housing Assistance Payment and Rental Accommodation Schemes.
Homelessness •
€218 million to support local authorities providing emergency accommodation and other services to those experiencing homelessness in addition to supports to assist people successfully exiting homelessness.
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Continued roll out of the Housing First Plan for rough sleepers and long term users of emergency accommodation.
Rental Sector •
€11m to support the work of the RTB including the delivery of measures to support the sector during Covid-19.
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€10 million to increase the level of local authority rental inspections.
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Protecting Lives Budget 2021 is delivering a permanent increase in the capacity of our health services right across the system. It provides for major investments in hospital capacity, in beds and doctors, in nurses and other health care staff. • • • • • • • • • • •
An additional 1,146 hospital beds. An increase in permanent adult Intensive Care beds from 255 to 321 by the end of 2021. 1250 community beds in 2021 including 600 new rehabilitation beds. 5 million additional homecare hours following on from the 19 million provided in 2020. Funding support for the implementation of the Slaintecare Public-Only Consultant Contract. Accelerated implementation of the National Cancer Strategy. Accelerated implementation of the National Maternity Strategy. €5 million for the development of community based dementia support services. €50 million for new medicines. €25 million for Healthy Ireland and the National Drugs Strategy. Approximately 100,000 additional inpatient and day care procedures.
Mental Health Services •
Additional €50m for Mental Health services bringing total spend on Mental Health to over €1 billion.
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€23m to enact the short-term recommendations contained in the new mental health policy, Sharing The Vision including additional Mental Health beds and enhanced Mental Health community teams.
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€15m will reinforce our response to the additional challenges set by Covid to include more step down beds and extra community mental health teams. €12m to underpin the cost of existing services.
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Disability Disability services are a clear priority for this Government. The €100 million additional funding for disability measures will support school leavers, deliver the resumption of day services and promote disability integration. • • •
€100 million for new disability measures. Supports for approximately 1,700 school leavers. Deliver the resumption of day services.
Up to 16,000 additional posts across the health sector.
Carer’s Support Grant
Carer’s Support Grant up €150 to €1850. First increase since 2016.
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Increasing the Living Alone Allowance to €19 an increase of €5 Increasing the Fuel Allowance to €28 per week an increase of €3.50 Increasing the Qualified Child Payment by €5 for over 12s and €2 for under 12s. Increasing the Carer’s Support Grant by €150 to €1,850 per year Extending Parents Benefit by three weeks An earnings disregard to allow self employed recipients of the PUP to take up intermittent work without losing their benefit. The planned increase of the pension age will not go ahead. A Pensions Commission will be established. Reducing the qualification period for the Christmas bonus to 4 months from 15 months. This will be paid in the first weekend of December.
Shared Island Initiative
€500 million multi annual capital funding for the Shared Island Initiative supporting cross-border projects.
€50 million in supports for Live Entertainment. Arts Council Funding increased to €130 million. €2 million for major sporting events. €3.5 million for TG4. €7 million for large-scale sports infrastructure.
Fianna Fáil are committed to smaller class sizes for a better learning experience.
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€8 BILLION FOR EDUCATION SECTOR IN 2021 WITH ADDITIONAL €0.7 BILLION FOR CAPITAL PROJECTS.
Supporting Jobs and Business
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662 new teaching positions to bring the pupil teacher ratio to 25:1 and meet demographic pressures.
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990 additional special needs assistants bringing total number of SNAs to over 18,000. 403 additional teaching posts to support special education . Funding for teacher education to address the shortage of post-primary teachers in Maths, Physics and Spanish. 145 school building projects supported under Large Scale and Additional Accommodation Scheme. 80 occupational, speech and language and behavioural therapists. Including 30 NEPS to support the rollout of the new School Inclusion Model. €15 million to support the School Transport Scheme.
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Social Protection
ENTERTAINMENT AND CULTURE
Education
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5,000 additional places to accommodate growing student numbers and the demand arising from the calculated grade model.
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1,500 Springboard places. Increase SUSI fee grant for postgraduate students to €3,500 - an increase of €1,500.
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200 additional places through the 1916 bursary fund.
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€50 million in student supports.
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€270 million for 20 higher education building projects.
Every additional Euro raised by the carbon tax will be returned to citizens through a package of supports to protect the vulnerable, secure the just transition and reduce our carbon footprint. €100 million for investment in improving energy efficiency in homes. €286.5m across government to support retrofit activity, including in social housing.
Justice
Higher Education •
Introduction of Covid Restrictions Support Scheme (CRSS) for businesses temporarily closed or have significantly reduced turnover as a result of public health restrictions. Extension of Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme through all of 2021 if necessary. Reduced VAT rate for the hospitality and tourism sector from 13 ½ per cent to 9 per cent. Commercial Rates waiver for Q4 2020.
Climate Change
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Health
€3 billion spend on budget in 2021. 620 new Garda recruits. Recruitment of 500 Garda Staff to underpin civilianisation and support frontline policing €8 million for continued investment in the Garda Fleet €250 million to facilitate ICT modernisation, on-going construction of the new Forensic Science Ireland laboratory, the redevelopment of Limerick prison and the modernisation of the courts system
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