Mayo minister confirms €1.15b. budget in social welfare package

Minister for Social Protection, Dara Calleary, has today announced a Social Protection Budget package worth over €1.15 billion in ongoing measures for 2026.

The minister has secured a package of measures to tackle child poverty and to support families, carers, and people with disabilities.

The package includes the largest Child Support Payment increase in the history of the State, with a weekly increase of €16 to €78 for children aged 12 and over (a 26% increase), and a weekly increase of €8 to €58 for children under 12 (a 16% increase). This brings the total annual value of the Child Support Payment to €3,016 for each child under 12 and €4,056 for each child 12 and over.

Minister Calleary also secured record increases in the Carer’s Allowance weekly income disregard, with an increase of €375 to €1,000 for a single person, and an increase of €750 to €2,000 for a couple. The income limit for Carer’s Benefit will also increase by €375 to €1,000 per week.

Also included in the package are increases of €10 per week to most maximum personal payment rates, benefitting people such as pensioners, people with disabilities, carers and lone parents, with proportionate increases for people receiving a reduced payment rate and qualified adults.

The Budget package also provides significant supports to help householders with the cost of heating and other energy bills.

The Fuel Allowance will increase by €5 to €38 per week and, for the first time, families receiving the Working Family Payment will qualify for the Fuel Allowance.

In addition, people moving from Disability Allowance or the Blind Pension to take up work will keep their Fuel Allowance for 5 years.

The Ballina-based minister also secured €370 million to fund the Christmas Bonus, which will be paid in December 2025 to almost 1.5 million long-term social welfare recipients.

In total, €28.9 billion will be spent on social protection measures in 2026.

Announcing the Social Protection Budget, Minister Calleary said: “In my first Budget as Minister for Social Protection, I am delighted to have secured a package of over €1.15 billion.

"The significant package I am announcing today balances payment rate increases together with a targeted package of measures aimed at supporting the most vulnerable in society.

"I am particularly pleased to have secured over €320 million in targeted measures to alleviate Child Poverty, including the largest ever increase in the Child Support Payments of €8 (or 16%) and €16 (or 26%) per week for children aged under 12 and 12 and over respectively. These increases will benefit about 330,000 children whose parents are in receipt of a social welfare payment.

"I am also very pleased to have secured record 60% increases in the Carer’s Allowance weekly income disregard. We are increasing the income disregard for a single person by €375 per week to €1,000. This means that a single carer that does some part-time work can earn just over €54,000 per year from that work, and receive a full carers payment.

"I am also increasing the income disregard for a couple to €2,000 per week. This means that a person who is caring in a household where their partner earns up to €108,000 a year will receive a full carers payment.

"These are the largest ever increases in the Carer’s income disregard and will mean that even people with what are considered to be relatively high incomes will qualify for a carer’s payment for the first time.

"They are evidence of the government’s determination to deliver on its commitment in the Programme for Government to eliminate the means test over the life of this Government.

"I am also glad to be announcing a general rate increase of €10 per week for our core weekly payments. This increase of over 4% on most payments is ahead of the rate of inflation and will benefit our carers, lone parents, pensioners and people with disabilities. I have also secured a full 100% Christmas bonus, which will be paid in early December to almost 1.5 million people.

"I am also increasing the Fuel Allowance payment by €5 per week. This increase will help over 460,000 households – pensioners, disabled people, lone parents and for the first time people in receipt of the Working Family Payment.

"I have also secured a number of important measures to support people with disabilities. These include facilitating people on disability allowance and blind pension payments who find employment to keep their fuel allowance payment for five years even after they take up a job.

"I am also extending the Back to Work Family Dividend scheme – which allows people to retain their Child Support Payment on taking up a job - to people on Disability Allowance and Blind Pension. I am also extending the Wage Subsidy Scheme to include more disabled workers and increasing the base rate of that subsidy to €7.50 per hour.

I believe that the measures I am announcing today – with a total value of over €1.15 billion - will make a huge difference to the lives of the people we serve and, through them to the communities, in which we all live.”

Social Protection measures announced today include:

· Weekly rates of the Child Support Payment will increase by €16 (26%) to €78 for children aged 12 and over, and by €8 (16%) to €58 for under 12s in January 2026

· €10 increase in weekly social welfare payments (4.1% on most payments) from January 2026, with proportionate increases for qualified adults and people getting a reduced rate

· Carer’s Allowance Income Disregard increased by 60% to €1,000 for a single person and €2,000 for a couple from July 2026

· Carer’s Benefit income limit will increase by €375 to €1,000 from July 2026

· €5 increase (15%) in the Fuel Allowance from €33 to €38 per week from January 2026

· The extension, for the first time, of the Working Family Payment as a qualifying scheme for the Fuel Allowance. This measure will be implemented in March 2026, backdated to January 2026

· From September 2026, people moving from Disability Allowance or the Blind Pension to take up work will keep their Fuel Allowance for 5 years

· People receiving Disability Allowance or Blind Pension will be eligible for the Back to Work Family Dividend when taking up employment

· Working Family Payment income thresholds for all family sizes to increase by €60 per week from January 2026

· Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance extended to eligible children aged 2 and 3

· Christmas Bonus will be paid in December 2025 to almost 1.5 million long-term social welfare recipients

· MyFutureFund, the Auto-enrolment retirement savings scheme, will commence on 1st January 2026, helping almost 750,000 workers save for their retirement. In 2026, the State will contribute €154 million to MyFutureFund.