Budget negotiations on-going
Negotiations ahead of Budget 2023 continued early on Monday morning.
The Government will sign off on a large increase to the point at which people pay the top rate of tax to bring it close to €40,000, in the soon-to-be announced budget.
At present, the higher 40 per cent tax rate kicks in on income over €36,800 for a single person.
Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe is set to raise this point by €3,200, with a similar increase for married couples or those in a civil partnership on one income.
It is also expected that there will be additional tax credits for renters of between €200 and €400, with the final amount yet to be agreed.
Free textbooks for primary school students
As part of new measures to be included Budget 2023, all primary school children will receive free textbooks, come next September.
As well as free school books, new measures introduced will see smaller classes, reduced childcare costs, a double child benefit payment, a €500 reduction in college fees, and energy credits amounting to €600 per family are to be unleashed.
As the Irish Examiner reports, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe described “demanding” discussions he and the Minster for Public Expenditure Michael McGrath held with fellow ministers in signing off on the €6.7 billion Budget 2023 package and a cost-of-living splurge on once-off measures of over €3 billion.
Minister for Education Norma Foley is a big winner, having secured €47 million to make school books free for all primary school children on a permanent basis, starting next September.
Average house price up to €311,514
House prices rose by 0.1 per cent in the third quarter of the year, according to new figures released by Daft.ie.
The average house listing price now stands at €311,514, a yearly rise of €23,810.
In Dublin, house prices in the third quarter of 2021 were 6 per cent higher than a year previously, compared to a rise of 5 per cent seen a year ago.
The average price of a home in Dublin is now €427,000, 14 per cent below its peak in 2007.
Nationally housing prices were largely stable between June and September.
Gunman kills 13 in Russian school shooting
A gunman with a swastika on his t-shirt killed 13 people, including seven children, and wounded more than 20 at a school in Russia on Monday before committing suicide, investigators said.
The motive for the shooting in Izhevsk, capital of the Udmurtia region about 970km east of Moscow, was unclear.
Housing activists and homeless residents removed from occupied building
Gardaí have entered a vacant property this morning in Dublin where 40 to 50 people lie homeless.
An injunction was placed on occupants of the derelict Parkgate House near Heuston Station in Dublin.
Some of the occupiers, self-styled as the Revolutionary Housing League, will appear before the High Court today.
