Cost of living measures to reflect fall in inflation

The size of the cost of living package in the Budget will reflect the fall in inflation in the past year, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohoe has said.

The cost of living package in last year's budget came to €2.3 billion.

Minister Donohoe and Minister for Finance Jack Chambers are due to announce Budget 2025 in the Dáil on Tuesday 1 October.

Speaking at a Fine Gael Small Business and Enterprise Conference in Athlone, Mr Donohoe confirmed there would be a cost of living package in the Budget.

"Even though inflation is coming down, prices are still going up," Mr Donohoe said.

"However, in discussing it at the moment, we also need to recognise that inflation has gone down from being above 10% to around 2% and that does mean the cost of living package should be adjusted to reflect that," he said.

The full amount that will be spent on cost of living measures had not been agreed by the Government as of yet, he added.

Earlier this week the Tánaiste said that the cost of living, housing and health would be key priorities for the Budget.

Inflation may have reduced, but prices are still high, Micheál Martin said.

The most recent figures from the Central Statistics Office showed that inflation had eased to 1.7% in August from an annual rate of 2.2% in July.

The CSO said this is the first time since June 2021 that its official measure of annual inflation has been below 2%.

In October 2022 inflation reached 9.2%, the highest rate seen since January 1984.