2019 Irish budget

The 2019 Irish budget was 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.

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.