Written answers
Tuesday, 15 July 2025
Department of Finance
Public Sector Staff
Barry Heneghan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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121. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will consider introducing targeted tax reliefs or financial supports for essential public sector workers, such as nurses, teachers and Gardaí, in high-cost urban areas, to address recruitment and retention challenges linked to housing affordability; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39413/25]
Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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In recent Budgets, decisions regarding the personal income tax package have been made with a view to spreading the benefit as effectively as possible and across as many taxpayers as possible. The personal income tax measures introduced have benefitted all income earners who pay income tax and USC, including those essential public sector workers.
For example, to ease the burden facing average and middle-income earners, the entry point to the higher rate of income tax for all earners has increased substantially by €8,700 or c. 25 per cent over the last four budgets, and the main tax credits have also been increased by €350, or c. 21 per cent, over this period. Furthermore, in line with Government policy of ensuring full-time workers on the minimum wage remain outside the charge to the top rates of USC, the ceiling of the 2 per cent USC rate band was increased by €6,898, or 34 per cent, from 2020 to 2025. Budgets 2024 and 2025 also cumulatively reduced the 4.5 per cent rate of USC to 3 per cent.
With respect to housing supports, the Help to Buy (HTB) incentive is a scheme to assist first-time purchasers with the deposit they need to buy or build a new house or apartment. An increase in the supply of new housing remains a central and priority aim of Government policy. For this reason, HTB is specifically designed to encourage an increase in demand for new build homes in order to support the construction of an additional supply of such properties.
The incentive gives a refund of Income Tax and Deposit Interest Retention Tax (DIRT) paid in Ireland over the previous four years, subject to certain limits and is legislated to be in place until end of 2029.
The level of support available to first time buyers is whichever is the lesser of:
- €30,000; or
- 10 per cent of the purchase price of the new property; or,
- the amount of Income Tax and DIRT paid in the four years before application for the relief.
The value of the credit for 2022 and 2023 was €500 for a single person and €1,000 for a jointly assessed couple. For the years 2024 and 2025, the value of the credit increased to €1,000 for a single person and €2,000 for a jointly assessed couple.
It is the case that all tax measures are kept under review and any proposals for new tax measures or adjustments to current measures are normally considered by the Minister for Finance in the context of the annual Budget and Finance Bill process, having due regard to available resources, competing demands and the equitable treatment of all taxpayers.
However, I do not currently have plans to introduce specific tax reliefs for essential public sector workers to address the issues set out by the Deputy. Tax reliefs, no matter how worthwhile in themselves, reduce the tax base and make general reform of the tax system that much more difficult.
Finally, I should point out that the issue of non-tax financial supports for essential public sector workers to address recruitment and retention is primarily a policy matter for the Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform.
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