Government to increase energy rebate to €200 per household plus 20% reduction in public transport costs

The Cabinet has approved extending the household electricity credit to €176 - it'll become €200 when the effects of VAT are incorporated. A one-off €125 payment to households in receipt of the Fuel Allowance will also be made.

Details on a suite of measures to help offset the spiralling cost of living were signed off by government ministers this evening.

It has been agreed to a 20% cut in all public transport fares from April for the rest of 2022. It's estimated the move will cost about €50m and cover Bus Éireann, Irish Rail, Dublin Bus, Go Ahead, Luas, DART and Local Link. There will also be a reduction on School Transport Scheme fees for families.

There will also be a change to the Drugs Repayment Scheme and the €100 threshold will reduce to €80 per month.

The Six Main Measures

Minister for Public Expenditure Michael McGrath outlined the suite of measure agreed at Cabinet today

Energy

The first of these is the decision to increase the energy credit announced in December from €100 excluding VAT to €200 inclusive of VAT. This is a one-off measure to assist all households with their energy bills and will be applied in the March April billing cycle. The total cost of this will be €378 million this year.

The legislation in respect of the energy credit currently going through the Oireachtas will be amended to take account of today's decision.

Fuel Allowance

The government also decided to make a one-off payment of €125 to recipients of the fuel allowance. This is a targeted measure and assisting those most at risk of fuel poverty. It will help close to 400,000 households and it is expected that the payment will be made to those who qualify in the first half of March. The cost of this will be €49 million.

Working Family Payment

"The working family payment is a tax repayment made to lower income families with children. As an in work scheme. It represents a very effective anti-poverty measure. We're bringing forward a plan to increase of €10 and the weekly threshold announced on Budget Day to the first of April. This will directly assist 45,000 families."

Drugs Repayment Scheme

"In addition to assist families with ongoing medical costs we've decided to reduce the threshold for the drugs payment scheme from €100 monthly to €80 monthly the level was already reduced the departure from €114 per month to €100 currently some 70,000 families benefit on a monthly basis with the scheme, which of course sets a cap on their outgoings for medicines.

"This further change to the scheme will be implemented from 1 March at a cost of €17million."

The change will be permanent.

Public Transport

"As a government we are fully committed to making public transport the cornerstone of getting people to and from where they need to go on a daily basis.

"The national development plan set out a multiyear investment in public transport and active travel. And in the recent budget we announced a youth access card to offer a significant discount for people aged 19 to 23 to access public transport.

"Today we're going a step further by providing a discount of 20% on PSO public transport fares. This will be a time limited incentive to the end of the current year, which will both encourage people return to using public transport while also giving them a break and the costs involved. Some 800,000 daily public transport users will benefit from this measure.

School Transport Scheme

"Finally, we're making a significant change to the School Transport Scheme. The cap currently stands at €220 per family at primary level at €650 per family at post primary level or reduced cap of €500 per family and post primary level and €150 per family at primary level when there'll be implemented.

"Today's package of announcements represents a concerted effort on the part of government to assist families and individuals to deal with the day to day reality that they are now facing.

It should be seen in the context of a wide range of ongoing measures to improve the quality of life of our citizens, such as the infrastructure investment set out in the National Development Plan."