2019 Irish budget

The Irish Government Budget for the 2019 fiscal year was presented to Dáil Éireann on 9 October 2018 by Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe, his second as Minister for Finance.^[1]^[2]

Summary

The cost of a packet of 20 cigarettes to go up by €0.50, to bring the total cost of a pack to €12.70.
Duties on alcohol go unchanged.
No changes in the price of diesel or petrol.
The VAT rate for the tourism and hospitality sector increases from 9% to 13.5%.
Social Welfare payments to rise by €5.
Christmas bonus to Social Welfare recipients to be restored to 100%.
Government to commit €1.25 billion for the delivery of 10,000 new social homes in 2019.
The Garda budget will rise by €60 million while the defense sector is to benefit from an extra €29 million.
The minimum wage is to be increased to €9.80 per hour.

^ "The final countdown is on: What we know so far about Budget 2019". Irish Independent. 2 October 2017. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
^ "As it happened: Budget 2019". The Journal. 9 October 2017. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
^ "The key points from Budget 2019". Irish Independent. 9 October 2017. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
^ "Budget19: A summary of the main points". Irish Examiner. 9 October 2017. Retrieved 10 October 2018.

Preceded by 2018	Budget of the Government of Ireland Delivered on 9 October 2018	Succeeded by 2020