The Taoiseach has said he was “taken aback” after analysis by the Economic and Social Research Institute showed that Budget 2025 will have little effect on reducing overall poverty or child poverty.
It said the “untargeted” cost-of-living measures, such as the energy credits and double Child Benefit payments, would have been enough to pay for a second tier of Child Benefit instead.
This could have lifted 40,000 children out of poverty.
However Simon Harris says the budget has received positive comments from a number of children’s charities.
