Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-07
============================================================

Ged Nash (LAB), Louth

PAYE workers need a mini-budget, and they need it now. Last October’s budget, the first of this Government’s new term, managed to pull off a quite extraordinary feat. It committed to spend over €9 billion more than the year before, yet left working families even worse off. This is an unparalleled achievement and all because of choices the Government made. Even before Trump and Israel’s war on Iran, the ESRI, in its post-budget analysis, said working families would be 2% poorer this year, with those who depend on the State for all of their income twice as far behind.
Roll seven months on, and the picture for PAYE workers has worsened considerably. Working people were deliberately misled by Fine Gael before they went to the polls in 2024. The Minister's party said that PAYE tax rates and bands would be indexed every year, making sure small pay hikes would be taken home. Instead, Fine Gael chose an economically stupid tax break for fast food chains and to subsidise the bank balances of developers against all of the expert advice, even from the Government's own civil servants. These are not the actions of a responsible Government.
Three weeks ago, a Government that was close to losing its authority caved in to sectoral interests and shelled out over €700 million to buy their silence for a few weeks. Nobody is saying for one minute that supports were not needed but there was nothing in that deal whatsoever for PAYE workers, and they know it. There was nothing to help with the day to day challenges that now have a permanence about them.
The truth is the Government has abandoned hard-working families on middle and low incomes. Money was no object before the votes were counted in November 2024. No vote buying gimmick was too madcap not to find its way into that year’s pre-election budget in a transparent attempt to buy people's votes with their own money. The message to working people since has been clear: you are on your own. Ireland has the highest energy prices in the EU with a harsh winter ahead. We have had already high grocery prices, rising by a further 6.5% for the basics in the first part of the year. There is no sign of the promised €200 childcare rate and there were shameful sham fights this week over college fees, rather than knuckling down and cutting costs for families
This afternoon, Government will have a chance to show its support for PAYE workers. Labour’s motion makes a very clear ask: do a mini-budget now, and put up to €1,000 into the pockets of average working families by: indexing bands and credits for PAYE workers backdated to January, bringing in a targeted €400 energy credit for households on under €80,000 annually and introduce a €100 groceries supplement to combat high prices at the checkout. In the absence of a mini-budget, it will not be Ireland that will be going nuclear; it will be Irish workers hit with high costs and no sign of relief and respite Does the Minister plan to formally oppose Labour’s motion later and if so, why?

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-07/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:46+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-07