Budget 2025 MESL Impact Briefing
Issued: November 2024
Summary
The briefing analyses the impact of Budget 2025, applying the MESL data to examine the impact of the announced measures on income adequacy.
The briefing discusses inflation and the change in minimum living costs, and examines the potential for income adequacy for a set of illustrative households in 2025. The impact of adjustments to core social protection rates, the national minimum wage, and in-work income supports is examined.
The potential impact on MESL costs of new education related measures, the extension of free school books through second level and school meals at primary level, is also discussed.
As in recent years, Budget 2025 includes a package of ‘cost of living’ supports which are being paid in the last quarter of 2024. The impact of these on income adequacy in 2024 is also examined in the briefing.