Higgins lorraine budget 2015 news 3814

BUDGET 2015: TOWARDS SHARED PROSPERITY

HIGHLIGHTS OF BUDGET 2015 ■

Tax relief for low and middle income earners

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Significant investment in job creation, housing and education

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Vital supports maintained and spending increased

Senator

Lorraine Higgins After many difficult years, Budget 2015 enables us all to move to a new phase where we can begin restoring living standards for Irish families.

It will primarily benefit low and middle-income earners, working families and vulnerable groups. Labour is delivering for them through both tax and welfare changes in a fair and equitable manner. We are prioritising essential investment in public services such as health and social housing.

We will provide additional assistance to help with the cost of water services.

This Budget will also see us continue our unrelenting drive to help people back into work, with measures specifically designed to assist jobseekers with families return to work. For 2015, we are delivering a Budget that will mark a decisive shift towards shared prosperity.

Best wishes,

Senator

Lorraine Higgins

BUDGET 2015: BUILDING SOCIAL RECOVERY €2.2 BILLION HOUSING INVESTMENT In Budget 2015, investment in the building of new family homes is a priority: ■ Over €2.2 billion has been allocated for housing provision for the next three years under an unprecedented multiannual plan.

■ In 2015 alone, over €800 million has been allocated for the housing programme– the first major investment in housing since 2009 and a 40% increase in spending on 2014 levels.

■ This dramatically increased investment will deliver 7,500 family homes in 2015 and a total of 40,000 family homes by 2020.

■ Spending on homelessness services will increase by over 20% to €55 million.

EDUCATION - 1700 NEW TEACHERS AND SNAS Investing in education is a key Labour priority and in Budget 2015 we have ensured that the improving economic situation will help enhance education services: ■ New Teachers & SNAS: An investment of €88m in 2015 will ensure 1700 new teachers and SNAs will be employed in our schools during 2015. There will be 900 new classroom teachers in primary and second-level schools, 480 resource teachers and 365 SNAs. ■ Class Sizes: For the fourth year in a row, Labour has protected the class sizes in our schools.

■ Back to School Costs: A second tranche of €5m will be provided in a three-year additional investment in school book funding for our primary schools, on top of the €15m already invested each year ■ Free Broadband for schools: We are investing €3m to ensure the high-speed broadband which has been installed in all post-primary schools is available to them free of charge ■ Early Childhood Education: Under Budget 2015, we will spend €600,000 on the immediate recruitment of the first ever team of early childhood education inspectors to greatly improve the quality of early childhood education.

25% RESTORATION OF THE CHRISTMAS BONUS Christmas can be a time of greater financial strain for families. Under Budget 2015, we have secured a Christmas bonus of 25% for all recipients of long-term social welfare payments, including pensioners, families with children and people with a disability. This payment will benefit over 1.16 million people.

SUPPORTING FAMILIES: €5 EXTRA ON CHILD BENEFIT Many families have been under financial pressure over the past number of years. Budget 2015 will see an increase of €5 in Child Benefit, from €130 to €135 a month to help support children and raise living standards for families. 613,000 families will get this increase from January. The funding for the School Meals Programme is also to increase by €2million to €39 million in 2015.

TAX RELIEF FOR LOW AND MIDDLE INCOME EARNERS Under Budget 2015, an extremely progressive tax package has been secured that focuses the relief on those who most need it - low and middle-income workers. Tax is being reduced for low and middle-income earners to ensure that those at work take home more and begin to benefit from the recovery. This is a significant step forward in targeting reliefs at low and middle income earners and ensuring that, proportionately, they gain the most: ■ A further 80,000 low paid workers are being taken out of USC with an increase in the entry point to €12,012 ■ Cut in lower rates of USC from 2% to 1.5% and from 4% to 3.5% ■ The standard rate band of income tax has been widened by €1,000 to €33,800 to take 33,000 people out of the top rate ■ The marginal rate of tax has been cut by 1% for workers earning from €33,800 up to €70,000.

■ For high earners over €70,000 the marginal rate remains unchanged.

BUDGET 2015: PRIORITISING WORK Budget 2015 provides an extra €3 billion in resources for the domestic economy. This will help to drive the already strengthening domestic economic recovery and support an additional 50,000 jobs next year, with unemployment set to fall further to 10% by the end of 2015.

■ To support the successful Pathways to Work programme in 2015, €1.6 billion will be made available to provide approximately 300,000 work and training places.

■ €12 million has been allocated for the JobPath initiative which matches the long-term unemployed with appropriate training and employment opportunities.

■ The number of JobsPlus positions has been doubled to 6,000 with a focus on young unemployed people.

BACK TO WORK FAMILY DIVIDEND The Back to Work Family Dividend is a new incentive under Budget 2015 to help jobseekers with families return to work, while retaining the child-related portion of their social welfare payment on a tapered basis over two years.

This includes those who move to selfemployment, such as back into the construction sector, and those on One Parent Family Payment. The scheme will be worth €1,550 per child in the first year of employment or self-employment and half that amount again in the second year.

WATER SUPPORTS ■ Water Support Payment: All recipients of the Household Benefits Package will see a new Water Support payment of €100 to help older people and other vulnerable groups meet the cost of water services. This will be a quarterly €25 payment and will be paid directly to the householder ■ Water Support Payment: Any Fuel Allowance recipients who are not in receipt of the Household Benefits Package will also receive an additional payment of €100 per year.

■ 653,000 households will receive this payment of €100 per annum to assist in paying their water charges ■ Medical Need: People with medical conditions where additional water is essential to their needs will have their charges capped.

■ Tax Relief: Income tax relief will be available at the standard rate in respect of water charges up to a maximum of €500 per household per year. The Water Charges Relief will be worth up to €100 per household per annum.

PENSIONERS AND PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES Over €3 billion has been allocated to support older people and services for people with disabilities under Budget 2015. As well as the new €100 per year water support payment for the Household Benefits Package this includes: LIVING ALONE ALLOWANCE INCREASE The Living Alone Allowance will increase by €1.30per week, bringing the rate up from €7.70 to €9. This is the first increase in this payment since 1996, and will benefit over 177,000 people. This increase will help provide for a greater level of income adequacy for both pensioners and people with disabilities living alone.

ENDING THE PENSION LEVY Pensioners have made a very significant contribution to supporting and developing economic recovery over recent years. The 0.6% Pension levy was introduced to help fund the Jobs Initiative and clearly played an important role in the positive jobs’ trend with 72,000 new jobs having been created since the peak of the crisis in 2012. As a result of the recent emerging economic recovery, the 0.6% Pension Levy will end in 2014 and the additional 0.15% Pension Levy will expire at the end of 2015.

Senator Lorraine Higgins @LorHiggins

Constituency Office: Piggott Street, Loughrea Office: 091 842200 Email: lorraine.higgins@oir.ie Web: www.lorrainehiggins.com

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SENIORS ALERT SCHEME €133m is being invested under Budget 2015 in Community programmes, including €46m for the Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme. This includes funding for Seniors Alert, which supports the provision of monitored alarms to enable older persons, of limited means, to continue to live securely in their homes with confidence