Public expenditure minister Michael McGrath (pictured) has outlined the main new spending measures in Budget 2022.

Health

Free GP care for children aged 6 and 7

Threshold for the Drug Payment Scheme lowered to €100

€250 million to tackle hospital waiting lists

Free contraception for women aged 17-25

In Association with

€30 million to allow patients greater access to high-tech drugs

Expanding dental access to medical card patients

Social

National Childcare Scheme universal subsidy extended to all children aged up to 15

€5 increase in weekly social welfare payments

€5 increase in weekly payments for pensioners

Living Alone Allowance to be increased by €3

Fuel Allowance increased by €5

Parents Benefit to be paid for 7 weeks (an increase of 2 weeks) from July 2022

Introduction of a Youth Travel Card for those aged 19-23

Housing

11,820 new social homes will be delivered through build, acquisition and leasing programmes. 9,000 of these will be new build homes

€18 million for the delivery of Traveller accommodation

11,000 grants to adapt the homes of older people and people with a disability

14,800 new households to have their housing needs met under the Housing Assistance Payment and Rental Accommodation Scheme, in addition to supporting almost 82,000 existing tenancies under these schemes

Education and Training

1,165 additional Special Needs Assistants, bringing the total number of SNAs to almost 19,200

Additional 350 teachers to reduce school staffing schedules by 1 point for all primary schools

7,600 places in Further Education and Training courses in key skills areas of the economy

980 additional special education teachers working in special classes, special schools and mainstream settings to support children with special educational needs

Off-the-job training places for 7,000 craft apprentices impacted by COVID-19

€200 increase in the maintenance grant payment in the Student Support Scheme

Recruitment of up to 800 new trainee Gardaí and 400 Garda staff