Find the support you might be missing.

A refund of income tax and DIRT towards the deposit on a new home you buy or self-build to live in. First-time buyers only. The home must be worth €500,000 or less and you need a mortgage for at least 70% of the price. The maximum is €35,000 since 7 October 2026, up from €30,000.

Shared-equity help for first-time buyers, first-time self-builders and fresh start applicants. It covers a new build in a private development, a self-build or the home you rent if your landlord has served a valid Notice of Termination because they are selling it.

A government backed mortgage of up to 90% of the home's value for first-time buyers (or Fresh Start applicants) whom two lenders would not fully lend to. Covers new, second-hand and self-build homes. Income limit €80,000 single or €85,000 joint.

Buy a new home from a local authority below market price. The council takes an equity share of 5% to 40% equal to your discount. For first-time buyers and Fresh Start applicants who cannot afford the full price with a maximum mortgage and a 10% deposit.

If your landlord is selling and you are at risk of homelessness, the State can buy the home and let you stay on, paying the rent you pay now. Net household income must be within €66,000 in Dublin or €59,000 elsewhere. Start with your local authority.

Long-term homes let at cost, not market rates. Rents are at least 25% lower than market rates. You may qualify if your net household income is below €66,000 in the four Dublin local authority areas or below €59,000 elsewhere, you are not getting social housing supports such as Rent Supplement or the Housing Assistance Payment and your household size matches the home advertised. The landlord must also be satisfied that you can afford the rent. Successful applicants are chosen by lottery.

Lets eligible council tenants buy their home at a discount.

For 2023 to 2025 the tax credit is 20% of the rise in mortgage interest over 2022, up to €1,250. For 2026 it is 20% of half the rise, up to €625. Your loan must have been €80,000 to €500,000 at the end of 2022, on your main home or another qualifying home. It cuts Income Tax only, not USC or PRSI.

If your mortgage arrears are not sustainable you voluntarily hand ownership to your lender, an approved housing body or local authority arrangement takes over and you stay in the same home as a social housing tenant paying a rent based on your income. You keep an option to buy the home back if your finances improve. New limits on home value and positive equity apply since 1 November 2024, and you must be eligible for social housing.

Free debt, financial, legal and insolvency advice if you are in serious arrears on your home mortgage and at risk of losing it. MABS runs it with the Insolvency Service, the Legal Aid Board and the Citizens Information Board, and vouchers pay a professional to advise you so the help costs you nothing.

Also called Croí Cónaithe. Up to €50,000 to refurbish a vacant home and up to €70,000 if derelict. Built before 2008 and vacant for at least two years when you apply. A 7% Derelict Property Tax is planned from 2027.

A government-backed loan for a first-time buyer or Fresh Start applicant to buy and renovate a vacant or derelict home in one loan. You must be 18 to 70 and unable to get enough finance from a commercial lender.

A serviced site in a town or village to build your own home on, up to €30,000 off the price. First-time buyers and Fresh Start applicants come first, but others selling up to move to a town or village can qualify too. It must be your own home.

Income tax relief on the cost of doing up an older property in a Special Regeneration Area to live in. It now runs to 31 December 2030, covers homes built before 1975 and has areas in 11 places, including Athlone, Drogheda, Dundalk, Letterkenny and Sligo.

If you own a property that has been vacant for 12 months or more and it suits social housing, the council or an approved housing body pays for the necessary repairs upfront. You lease the property to them for social housing and the repair cost is gradually offset against the rent they pay you, so you do not need the money in hand to bring the place back into use.

Converts vacant space above a shop or other commercial premises into a home. Up to €95,000 for the first unit created, plus up to €20,000 each for a second and a third-or-more unit, so a maximum of €135,000 per building. The building must have been built before 2008, the above-shop space vacant for 2 years or more, and the ground floor must stay in commercial use. You must be a named individual or household, not a company, and you need to live in or rent out the finished units for at least 10 years or repay part of the grant if you sell early. Launched April 2026.

Up to €5,000 towards a qualified professional's report on turning vacant space into homes. For named owners (not companies) of a building built before 2008. It covers two cases: space above a shop vacant for at least 2 years (the shop stays) and a former commercial or public building vacant 2 years being turned into two or more homes. Pairs with the Vacant Above the Shop Grant.

The grant covers up to 67% of the report's cost including VAT, to a maximum of €5,000. Only one grant is allowed per building and it does not cover turning a whole building into a single home. You cannot get it once works have started, plans or drawings exist or planning has been lodged.

Apply to the local authority where the building is, with proof of ownership, evidence of vacancy, a site map, proof it was built before 2008, photos, a quotation for the report and the professional's qualifications.

Pays in full to test and repair a home damaged by pyrite in the floor hardcore. For homes in Dublin, Kildare, Meath, Offaly, Limerick or Westmeath built from 1997 to December 2013 and bought before 12 December 2013. Applications close 30 November 2026.

A 100% grant, up to €462,000, to fix a home damaged by defective concrete blocks. Open in Carlow, Clare, Donegal, Limerick, Mayo, Sligo and parts of Fingal, Meath and Wexford.

Government funding to fix urgent fire safety defects in apartments and duplexes built between 1991 and 2013. The owners' management company applies to the Housing Agency, not individual owners.

€2,500 to €50,000 for repairs to protected structures and homes in conservation areas. You apply to your council and it is competitive. The 2027 round closes by 30 October 2026 at the latest. Your council can set an earlier date.

Larger conservation works on significant historic buildings. For 2027 the fund offers grants of €50,000 to €200,000 only, normally paying half the eligible cost. Smaller jobs go to the Built Heritage scheme above. Apply to your council by the date it sets, no later than 27 November 2026.

Towards renewing or repairing the thatched roof of a house you live in: up to €3,810 or two-thirds of the cost, rising to €6,350 (up to 80%) if you hold a medical card, and higher again on the specified offshore islands.

Pays 67% of the cost, up to €5,000, for a conservation expert to survey an old or traditional house and advise on repairing and upgrading it. The 2026 round is closed. Subject to funding, it is expected to reopen in 2027.

Grants for owners, custodians and community groups to repair and protect archaeological monuments, through your local authority. Stream 1 gives up to €130,000. Streams 2 and 3 give up to €30,000. Closes 5 February 2027.

Attic insulation up to €2,000 (€2,500 for first-time buyers who bought on or after 1 January 2025 and for homeowners on qualifying welfare payments). Wall insulation up to €8,000, but not for pre-1940 solid-wall homes. Grant approval must be in place before any work starts.

Up to €5,600 for energy-efficient windows and doors in a home built before 2011, with no full retrofit needed. The walls and attic must be well insulated by the end of the job. You can insulate in the same project. Apply before any work starts.

SEAI grant towards a heat pump: up to €14,500 for a house or €11,500 for an apartment, including a €2,000 boiler scrappage grant when an oil, gas, electric storage or solid fuel system is removed or there was no central heating. The home must be built and occupied before 2021.

A flat €700 for smart heating controls in a home built and occupied before 2011. You cannot get it if you are applying for or have claimed a heat pump grant.

A €2,000 Boiler Scrappage grant, part of the SEAI heat pump system grant bundle, where an oil or gas boiler, an electric storage system or a solid fuel system is being removed. SEAI also pays it to homeowners without central heating where a heat pump is being installed. It is the third part of a €14,500 bundle on SEAI's heat pump page. For homes built and occupied before 2021 with an MPRN. gov.ie says it applies straight away for eligible applicants. If your heat pump application is already in progress the €2,000 is added automatically. You need grant approval before the work starts. A homeowner replacing an existing heat pump that has not had SEAI support before does not qualify for it.

Attic and cavity wall insulation grants for homes in an active Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) tenancy or Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) arrangement. The owner of the property applies, not the tenant. The grants are €1,400 to €2,500 for attic insulation and €900 to €2,300 for cavity walls. They open from 6 October 2026, subject to final arrangements. The home must have been built and occupied on or before 31 December 2010. Attic insulation is €2,500 for a detached home, €1,900 for a semi-detached or end of terrace home, €1,800 for a mid-terrace home and €1,400 for an apartment. Cavity wall insulation is €2,300 for a detached home, €1,700 for a semi-detached or end of terrace home, €1,100 for a mid-terrace home and €900 for an apartment. SEAI's attic page lists property owners as the applicants and names landlords in an active HAP tenancy or RAS arrangement, so a tenant should ask their landlord. SEAI may ask for evidence of the tenancy or arrangement. An attic grant for an apartment is only available for a top-floor apartment or one where heat is escaping from the roof. No attic grant is paid where one has already been paid at that MPRN. The Government announcement also lists the Dublin RAS Pilot (RASP), which SEAI's pages do not name, so check SEAI's page for which tenancies count.

A managed whole-home upgrade where one contractor handles everything and the grants come off the price up front. Your home must reach a BER of at least B, plus a heat pump or a big cut in energy use. For homes built and occupied before 2011.

Free energy upgrades for eligible lower-income households. The waiting list can be long, but you may be able to apply directly for individual attic or cavity wall insulation grants instead, without losing your place on the list.

A low-cost, government-backed loan to help fund SEAI grant-eligible home energy upgrades. Loans are available up to 31 December 2026, unless the money runs out first.

A fully funded 2kWp solar PV system, with up to 4kWp and a battery announced from 6 October 2026, for homes on the life support category of the Priority Services Register, where someone depends on powered medical equipment such as a dialysis machine or ventilator.

Toward rooftop solar panels for your home. The home must have been built and occupied before 2025. It also needs an MPRN, which is the number for its electricity connection, so a home off the grid does not qualify.

No VAT on the supply and fit of solar panels on a private home, since 1 May 2023, so the price you are quoted already has the VAT taken off.

Your electricity supplier pays you for the solar electricity you send back to the grid, at a rate per unit (kWh) that shows up as a credit on your bill.

Up to €1,200 toward a solar thermal system that heats your hot water, for homes built and occupied before 2025.

A flat €600 SEAI grant towards a home battery that stores electricity, for example from solar panels. It is for batteries of 5kWh or larger. Open for applications from 5pm on Tuesday 6 October 2026. The home needs an MPRN and must have been built and occupied before 2025, with no previous battery grant at that MPRN. You use an SEAI registered solar PV contractor and need a grant offer before the battery is installed. SEAI says that if you are only installing one measure now you may apply for the other later. You can make one combined application if you want both. A post-works BER is needed if you also have solar PV.

Grants for solar panels (up to 4kWp) and a battery (5kWh) for homeowners who get certain social welfare payments: Fuel Allowance, Working Family Payment, One-Parent Family Payment, Domiciliary Care Allowance, Carer's Allowance if you live with the person you care for. Jobseeker's Allowance or Disability Allowance also count after six months, if you have a child under seven. Available from 5pm on Tuesday 6 October 2026. The grant is up to €9,000 in total: up to €8,400 for the solar panels plus €600 for the battery. SEAI's general solar rules apply: the home needs an MPRN and must have been built and occupied before 2025.

A pilot using the existing Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) Dublin Pilot to provide substantial grants for solar PV (up to 4kWp) and a 5kWh battery for homes in these RAS tenancies, with a proposed grant of up to €9,000. SEAI announced it on 29 September 2026 as part of its enhanced grants package. It is announced and not open yet. The measures are due to open from 6 October 2026 subject to final implementation arrangements. No application page or full terms has been published. The announcement does not say who applies, the tenant or the owner.

If you generate electricity from solar panels or another renewable source at your sole or main residence for your own consumption and sell the surplus to the grid, profits of up to €400 a year are exempt from Income Tax, USC and PRSI for the years 2024 to 2028. You do not need to own the home and you must be named on the electricity bill. Each named person gets the exemption. There is no need to declare exempt profits in a tax return. It is not available to companies. Budget 2027 announces an increase in the exempt amount from €400 to €600. The Department of Finance lists it among the tax measures for introduction in 2027 but gives no start date.

Up to €40,000 to adapt a home for someone with a disability, such as a stair lift, ramps, a downstairs bathroom or an extension. Up to 100% of the cost if household income is under €37,500. Get approval before any work starts.

Up to €8,000 towards grab rails, a ramp, an accessible shower, a stair lift or a fixed track hoist, which may cover 100% of the cost. One income limit applies: €37,500 after deductions, with no sliding scale above it. Apply to your local authority before any work starts.

Up to €10,700 for essential repairs such as structural work, rewiring, heating or doors and windows, for people aged 66 or over who own their home (younger only in cases of hardship). Up to 100% of the cost if the owner and spouse have income of €37,500 or less after deductions.

Free small DIY jobs for older people. For getting home from hospital, Age Action names trip hazards, handrails, toilet seats and moving a bed downstairs. Volunteers cover Dublin, Cork and Galway. Maintenance teams travel anywhere in Ireland where a job helps someone avoid hospital or get home from it sooner. Call 0818 911 109.

Age Action's page has a notice dated August 2026 saying demand is very high and there is a waiting list. When the notice was written Donegal was not accepting new referrals for at least one month, so check whether that has changed.

The notice also says that Galway, Clare, Limerick, Roscommon, Mayo, Sligo and Leitrim accept referrals only from health professionals and older people themselves.

For grab rails and stair rails Age Action needs the materials to be available and the labour is free. Check the Age Action page before you ring.

Funds adaptations like stairlifts, grab rails and downstairs bathrooms for council tenants who are older or have a disability. The social housing version of the Housing Adaptation Grant, applied for through your local authority.

A monitored personal alarm, a pendant you press in an emergency, for people aged 65 or over of limited means who live alone, live alone for large parts of the day, or care for someone in the home. You apply through a local community or voluntary group registered with Pobal.

Around 20 cent a litre towards green diesel for farmers and agricultural contractors, from €20 million a month for March to July 2026. Budget 2027 agreed to extend the fuel support schemes to the end of 2026, with €31.2 million across them. The rate and how to apply are not published yet.

Extra income for farmers and fishers on a low income who give 19.5 hours a week to local community projects, run through local development companies. The minimum weekly payment has been €286.50 since January 2026. From January 2026 it also opened to people with a defined connection to farming or fishing, plus a pilot for anyone aged 50 or over living in a rural area, which means anywhere outside the five cities. Budget 2027 raises the weekly top-up by €2.50 to €35, with no separate start date stated. The core Jobseeker's, Farm Assist and One-Parent Family Payment rate rises by €10 to €264 from January 2027. The Budget also expands the Rural Dweller pilot for people aged 50 or over living in rural areas to 500 places.

Core CAP income payment on eligible land. Replaced the Basic Payment Scheme.

Front-loaded payment on your first hectares that favours smaller farms.

Annual payment for agri-environmental practices like space for nature.

Support for farming hill, marginal or constrained land.

Payment entitlements for young farmers and new entrants.

Extra income payment for young farmers in their early years.

Grant aid for commercial growers, covering field vegetables, fruit, protected crops and glasshouses, mushrooms, nursery stock, and BEEKEEPING, which surprises people. There are two: the Scheme of Investment Aid for the Development of the Commercial Horticulture Sector, at 40% of the cost or 50% for young farmers and licensed organic growers, and the Innovation and Diversification scheme for specialised plant and equipment, at 50% or 60% for the same groups. Note the minimum spend, because it rules out small jobs. It is €7,500 excluding VAT on the main scheme, €2,000 for beekeeping investments and €10,000 on the innovation one. Both 2026 rounds are now closed. You cannot apply today, so this is one to get ready for. The 2026 Commercial Horticulture round closed at 5pm on Friday 19 December 2025 and the Innovation and Diversification round closed at midnight on Tuesday 3 February 2026. The 2026 Commercial scheme was published on 17 October 2025, so the 2027 round should open around October 2026, which is only weeks away. The budget for horticulture in 2026 was €8.8 million. It is open to micro, small and medium sized enterprises in primary horticulture production, and you apply on an official form to the Department rather than online, so get the terms and conditions early.

A €30 million area-based payment for tillage farmers, on a digressive per-hectare rate: €110/ha for the first 1-100ha, €90/ha for 100-125ha, €70/ha for 125-150ha, and €50/ha above that. You need a valid 2025 BISS application declaring at least 1 hectare of an eligible crop (barley, oats, wheat, rye, triticale or oilseed rape). Applied for online via MyAgFood. Distinct from the Tillage Investment Scheme, which is a TAMS capital grant for grain stores and equipment, not an area payment.

A means-tested weekly payment for low-income farmers aged 18 to 66, run through the same DSP welfare system as Jobseeker's Allowance. You must satisfy a means test on your farm income and other means. Apply through your local Intreo Centre or Branch Office. Budget 2027 raises the personal rate by €10 to €264 a week from January 2027. From July 2027 the means test disregard for agri-environment scheme payments rises from €5,000 to €7,500 and the seaweed harvesting disregard rises from €1,270 to €2,500 a year.

An existing Revenue relief, in force now. If you carry on a trade of farming you can claim a tax deduction equal to the difference between the carbon tax you paid on farm diesel and the carbon tax that would have been paid had the rate stayed at €41.30 per 1,000 litres. The rate has risen from €41.30 in 2010 to €172.14 per 1,000 litres from 1 May 2025, the latest rate on Revenue's page. Agricultural contractors may not claim it because they are not carrying on a trade of farming. Revenue's page points to Tax and Duty Manual Part 23-01-36 for the detail.

A new scheme for farmers hit by higher fertiliser and energy costs, announced in Budget 2027. The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine says the package is €46.1 million, which is a €30.8 million Exchequer top-up to €15.38 million of EU exceptional aid. It says development is at an advanced stage and details will be announced shortly. The Budget statement by Minister Chambers refers to €31 million for a new Fertiliser Scheme to be launched in 2026. Who can apply, how much each farmer gets and how to apply have not been published, so there is nothing to apply for today.

Payments for farmers in Priority Areas for Action who put in water quality measures such as sediment traps, riparian margins and catch crops, starting with a fully funded Rainwater Management Plan. Applications are accepted to the end of 2027. Check your Eircode on the EPA map first to see if your land is in a Priority Area.

The main agri-environment scheme. Replaced GLAS.

Payments to convert to and maintain organic farming. The official page says the scheme is currently closed to new applications. Payment is per hectare, by sector and by years in conversion, plus an annual participation payment. One example, for dry stock: €300 a hectare in conversion years 1 and 2 and €250 a hectare in years 3 to 5, on the first 70 hectares. The annual participation payment is €2,000 in the first year and €1,400 in later years. Rates differ by sector, so check the official page for yours. The page lists these essentials: farming to EU organic standards, an approved training course and registration with an organic body. The minimum area is 3 hectares (1 hectare for horticulture).

Payment for ploughing in straw to build soil carbon. Budget 2027 adds €4 million to the Straw Incorporation Measure, bringing it to €14 million. No change to the rate or rules is stated.

Per-hectare payment for growing protein crops such as beans, peas, lupins and soya or a protein and cereal mix. The rate depends on uptake and varies each year. Applied for with your BISS application. The Department's page was last updated in February 2023. It said the rate for 2023 was likely to be in the region of €500 to €590 a hectare for beans, peas, lupins and soya, with the protein and cereal mix at half rate, in the region of €250 to €270. Budget 2027 funds Protein Aid at €10 million in 2027. The official page gives no rate for 2026 or 2027.

Up to €75 a calf for suckler farmers, on up to 45 calves born between 1 July 2025 and 30 June 2026. Applications closed at 5pm on 23 September 2026 with no late applications. Payments start in December 2026.

Payment for beef suckler herds that improve genetics and cut emissions. It is paid per hectare, up to a maximum payable area worked out from the herd's reference number divided by 1.5: €225 a hectare for the first 15 hectares and €180 a hectare for the rest. The page says the application window closed on 22 May 2023 and that you had to be an SBLAS member before 16 October 2023. Participants also needed to complete the training course by 15 November 2024.

Payment per ewe for welfare actions like lameness control.

A cluster of schemes for people who breed or produce sport horses and ponies, funded by the Department of Agriculture through National Breeding Services and run by Horse Sport Ireland. Open to studbook breeders, producers and owners anywhere on the island of Ireland, Northern Ireland included. The Mare Breeding Package pays up to €200 a horse towards pre-breeding screening, the Starting Scheme up to €1,000 towards six weeks of training, and the Mare X-Ray Screening Scheme covers 70% of the screening cost capped at €245 excluding VAT. The bigger ones ask more of you: Premium Retention pays up to €6,000 over six months to keep a high merit mare or stallion aged 5 to 7 but needs a completed studbook selection, and Schooling I and II pay up to €1,500 and €3,000 for eight weeks with a producer, with Schooling II also needing dam line performance and an approved sire. Embryo transfer and environmental testing schemes run as well. The animal must be studbook registered and in your own name, and you need an Equine Operator profile, or an Equine Establishment Number in Northern Ireland. Schemes run first come first served until the budget is gone. Seven of the eight are now closed for 2026, with deadlines that ran from 31 March to 31 July, and three were oversubscribed. The High-Performance Stallion Health and X-Ray Scheme has not opened yet and its deadline is still to be confirmed, so stallion owners should keep watching. Schemes open on a rolling basis from February to May, so the mailing list on the Horse Sport Ireland breeding page is the way to catch the next one. One thing to know before you plan around 2027: Horse Sport Ireland went into examinership on 24 August 2026 after a legacy legal liability crystallised, and the High Court appointed an interim examiner. HSI says it continues to operate and that examinership is a rescue process meant to secure its future, but the next round is not guaranteed while that is going on.

Pays 75% of the vet cost, up to €1,000 per greyhound, to treat a career-ending bone injury picked up while racing or trialling at a licensed stadium. Fractured hocks, long bones and multiple metacarpal or metatarsal fractures are the sort of thing it covers. Open to all owners and trainers who have paid the vet bill. The condition is that the greyhound retires from racing immediately after treatment and every effort is made to rehome it, and it can never be sold or given away for racing again. You send the paid vet invoice, a vet certificate from the track vet or treating vet, and the application form.

Pays up to 75% of the cost of improving your kennels, to a maximum of €2,500, for licensed participants in greyhound racing. The 2026 programme was announced on 21 April with a €100,000 fund and stays open until the money is fully allocated, so it is first come first served. It will NOT fund work needed to fix problems found in a welfare inspection: meeting the baseline standard is the kennel owner's own responsibility, and this is for going beyond it.

Support for dairy-beef calves. The Department's page for this scheme describes a 2023 measure that paid up to €20 a calf weighed, for 5 to 50 calves. It closed to applications on 2 May 2023. The page does not mention feeding, vaccination or other welfare measures. Check the Department's page for any current round.

Annual welfare payment per breeding ewe, separate from the Sheep Improvement Scheme.

Payment of €20 for each eligible dairy-beef calf weighed, for between 5 and 50 calves. Applications opened on 14 April 2026 and closed on 15 May 2026. Weights are due with ICBF by 17.30 on 1 November 2026 and payment is due in December 2026. Separate from the Dairy Beef Welfare Scheme. Eligible calves are dairy-breed males or beef-sire calves from dairy dams, at least 12 weeks old when weighed and born between 1 July 2025 and 30 June 2026. You must be 18 or over, own the herd and have a 2026 BISS application.

The main compensation scheme if your herd has a TB breakdown and reactor animals are removed. The ceilings on DAFM's TB pages are: up to €5,000 for a pedigree cow or in-calf heifer; up to €5,000 for a pedigree stock bull (up to 3 per breakdown episode); up to €3,000 for any other individual bovine animal. On 6 October 2026 Minister Heydon announced his intention to increase the ceilings by €500 for all categories of reactor valued from Budget Day onwards. The new figures are not stated and the Department's TB pages still show the ceilings above, so check with DAFM. You pick an Independent Valuer from DAFM's list, and a V8 (accept/reject) and V13 (the valuation) form process the claim, done online via AgFood.ie. You can appeal a valuation you disagree with.

For herds under a single continuous TB restriction where full depopulation isn't used. In a dairy herd one test is not less than 9.5% of the dairy cows removed. The booklet also sets out a whole herd rule. For other herds the DAFM TB Compensation Booklet (July 2026) gives two different thresholds, at section 5.1 and in a footnote, so check with DAFM before you rely on either. Rates are banded by animal type and months post-calving: dairy cows €100/month for months 1-5 then €65/month for months 6-10, suckler cows €52/month for months 1-7 then €40/month for months 8-12, and a flat €30/month for all other animals. Capped at 199 reactors and at 12 months if you aren't denied permission to move animals.

Paid per animal removed under a TB depopulation measure. Non-feedlot rates: €280 for dairy cows, in-calf heifers and pedigree bulls over 12 months, €180 for suckler-equivalent animals, and €120 for all other animals (feedlot and dealer herds get nil). Rates are for a 4-month rest period, pro-rated for shorter periods.

For herdowners feeding more animals than on the same date the previous year because a TB restriction is stopping them from selling or moving stock. Worth €50/month per suckler cow or €30/month per dairy cow or other bovine, capped at €300 a month for up to 4 months. The scheme itself only runs from 1 November to 30 April each year.

Part of the bovine TB Action Plan, this grant helps farmers stop TB spreading from badgers by fencing off setts and buying badger-proof feed and water troughs. It pays 40% of the cost of eligible materials up to €2,000 excluding VAT, so a maximum grant of €800. The minimum eligible investment is €500 excluding VAT. The scheme is closed to new applications and the purchase window, 1 July to 31 August 2026, has ended. The Department's Q&A says an applicant approved for 2026 may not apply in 2027 if the scheme is operated in 2027. Check the official page for any new round.

Grant aid at 40% towards milking and milk storage equipment, such as milking machines, robotic milkers, bulk tanks and plate coolers. Ceiling €90,000 (€160,000 for a partnership). Tranche 14 closes on 4 December 2026.

Grant aid at 40% for licensed organic operators (60% if you are also in the Organic Farming Scheme) towards housing, storage and organic kit like polytunnels and poultry houses. Ceiling €90,000 (€160,000 for a partnership).

Grant aid at 40% for pig and poultry investments, with its own much higher ceiling of €500,000 rather than the usual TAMS figure. It covers housing, ventilation and control systems, insulation, heat recovery and heat pumps, feed and water systems, medicine dispensers and weighing gear.

Grant aid at 70%, the highest rate in TAMS, for storing imported slurry, soiled water and farmyard manure. Ceiling €90,000 per holding, separate from your other TAMS ceilings. Partnership ceiling: confirm with the Department.

The higher 60% rate across the full TAMS list, for farmers over 18 and under 41 who set up on the holding in the last five years. Ceiling €90,000 (€160,000 for a partnership), plus a separate €90,000 for nutrient storage.

The higher 60% rate across the full TAMS list, for women farmers over 18 and under 67 when they apply. One holding only. Ceiling €90,000 (€160,000 for a partnership), plus a separate €90,000 for nutrient storage.

Grant aid at 60% for farm handling and safety equipment, such as sheep handling units, cattle crushes, calving pens and yard lights. Ceiling €90,000 (€160,000 for a registered farm partnership).

Grant aid at 40% (60% for nutrient storage) towards animal housing, slurry storage and equine facilities. Ceiling €90,000 (€160,000 for a partnership) with a separate €90,000 for nutrient storage.

Grant aid at 60% for solar PV panels, inverters, controllers and rechargeable batteries on the farm. Its €90,000 ceiling is ring-fenced and separate from your other TAMS ceilings, so it does not eat into them.

Grant aid at 60% for low-emission slurry gear: trailing shoe and shallow injection attachments with macerator, slurry tankers, umbilical systems, lay-flat hose and flow meters. Its ceiling is separate at €40,000, €60,000 for a partnership, and does not come out of your €90,000 TAMS ceiling.

Grant aid at 40% for tillage equipment and storage, such as grain stores, dryers, sprayers and min-till drills. You need at least 15 hectares. Ceiling €90,000 (€160,000 for a partnership).

Grant aid at 50% for oyster, mussel, fish and seaweed farmers investing in production, safety or environmental upgrades, capped at €500,000 in the call that closed at 5pm on Friday 11 September 2026. BIM runs the scheme in calls, so check its page for the next one. You must already hold a statutory aquaculture licence and any Foreshore Act consent, both in good standing. Sites inside a marine Special Area of Conservation or Special Protection Area that are awaiting a licence determination are excluded.

Helps pay for safety equipment on a fishing boat: 60% of the cost for vessels under 12 metres and 40% for vessels of 12 metres and over. Your vessel must be on the Irish Register of Fishing Boats. It is an open call with no closing date, so you can apply at any time. Grant aid counts towards the €40,000 fisheries de minimis ceiling over three consecutive fiscal years, and individual items carry their own maximum eligible costs.

Up to 40% towards safety equipment for a licensed marine tourism vessel of 15 metres or under operating in Irish coastal waters, so angling charters, dive boats and sightseeing operators. It is an open call with no closing date. Grant aid counts towards the €40,000 fisheries de minimis ceiling over three consecutive fiscal years.

Grants and yearly premiums for planting trees on land that is not already forest: native woodland, broadleaf, oak and beech, mixed conifer and spruce, continuous cover forestry and agroforestry. A registered forester applies with you.

The grant depends on the forest type: €6,744 a hectare for native woodland or oak and beech, €4,314 for diverse broadleaf, €3,858 to €4,452 for mixed conifer forests with at least 20% broadleaves and €2,500 for emergent forest.

Yearly premiums run from €350 to €1,170 a hectare, for 20 years if you count as a farmer and 15 years if you do not, on most forest types.

You count as a farmer if you pass the Department's active farmer check and got a BISS payment before planting is finished.

Native woodland (forest types FT1 and FT2) can also earn a once-off €1,000 a hectare from a business through the Woodland Environmental Fund, paid once the forest is established.

Plant a small native woodland of up to 1 hectare on land you farm, or a strip of native trees beside a river or stream, without needing an afforestation licence.

The grant is €6,744 a hectare, plus a yearly premium of €2,206 a hectare (€2,284 for trees beside water) for 10 years, the same whether or not you are a farmer.

You must be the sole owner of the land, it must be farmed now and up to 2 hectares can be planted on one farm holding.

Once planted the trees are protected by law, so cutting them down later needs a Tree Felling Licence.

Trees and farming on the same land, including the silvoarable and forest gardening pilots. It is part of the Afforestation Scheme.

Agroforestry (forest type FT8) pays a grant of €8,555 a hectare plus a premium of €1,170 a hectare a year.

The silvoarable (FT13) and forest gardening (FT14) pilots pay €6,000 a hectare plus €829 a year.

Premiums on all three run for 10 years, whether or not you are a farmer.

Grants for thinning and tending a broadleaf or mixed forest, converting a forest to continuous cover forestry, coppicing, maintaining an agroforest and managing a seed stand.

Each part pays a fixed €1,200 a hectare.

Thinning is for broadleaf forests and mixed broadleaf and conifer forests planted after 1983, whether or not they were grant-aided. You can apply for a second thinning later.

Converting to continuous cover forestry is paid in three €1,200 instalments over 12 years, plus €150 a hectare a year for 7 years.

Coppice is capped at 3 hectares per application.

Grants for building a road into a forest to the standard needed for harvesting timber.

The grant is €66 for each metre of road built to harvesting road standard, for up to 25 metres of road per hectare of forest served. No one applicant can get more than €500,000 in a calendar year.

Every forest road needs the Department's written approval before work starts, grant or no grant. A road built without it gets no grant and can lead to prosecution.

Grants to restore and look after a native woodland you already have: clearing rhododendron and laurel, felling non-native trees and putting up fencing.

Private owners may be able to get up to €6,000 a hectare in two instalments, plus €500 a hectare a year for 7 years, or €650 on a site of high ecological priority.

Public bodies can get up to €3,000 a hectare.

At least two thirds of the upper canopy must already be native trees, the project area is up to 15 hectares and a Native Woodland Plan must be completed by an NWC Scheme Forester and Ecologist.

Grants to improve an existing woodland for public recreation and add facilities, for public and private forest owners. The wood must stay open to the public all year.

Improving the woodland is funded up to €6,000 a hectare with a limit of €72,000. Facilities are funded up to €4,200 a hectare with a limit of €50,400.

Private owners may also get €90 a hectare a year for 7 years.

Entry must be free and the wood open all year, although a private owner can close it for one day a year. You need a registered forester.

Grants for private forest owners who, after felling, replant with native trees, continuous cover forestry or trees that protect biodiversity and water rather than the same conifer crop, such as spruce or pine.

Replanting for continuous cover forestry pays €2,200 a hectare plus €150 a year for 7 years.

Replanting as native woodland pays €4,800 a hectare on a high ecological priority site plus €650 a year for 7 years, or €2,700 a hectare elsewhere plus €500 a year.

Replanting for biodiversity and water pays €3,000 a hectare plus €350 a year for 7 years, on up to 5 hectares.

You need a felling licence with the same replanting species, or the Department's written agreement to change them. Applications close each year once 525 hectares are reached. Each owner can make one application a year.

Grants to replant storm-damaged forest that was windblown or snapped by Storm Darragh or Storm Éowyn. For private owners, including forests that were never grant-aided.

The replanting grant is €3,858 to €6,744 a hectare depending on what you plant, where the forest was not insured for replanting costs. If it was insured, the most you can get is your policy excess.

At least 20% of the forest must be damaged and the land must be replanted within 2 years. You need a felling licence or a fully submitted application for a clearfell licence.

A registered forester applies for you, applications close on 31 July 2027 and nothing is paid for lost timber.

Grants to clear ash plantations hit by ash dieback disease and replant with other trees, plus the Climate Action Performance Payment.

Site clearance is €2,000 a hectare and replanting is €3,858 to €8,555 a hectare depending on what you plant. Your existing premiums continue, with a top-up.

The forest must have been planted under a Department afforestation scheme, no felling licence is needed for the ash itself and the land must be replanted within 4 years.

On top of that, the current owner can claim the Climate Action Performance Payment of €5,000 a hectare in three instalments on agfood.ie. It counts toward the €300,000 limit on de minimis State aid over three years. To get it, you must join an ash dieback scheme before the end of 2027.

Profits from a commercially managed forest or woodland in Ireland, including forestry premiums, planting grants and timber sales, are exempt from income tax and corporation tax.

USC and PRSI still apply to individuals.

You still declare the income in the exempt income section of your tax return.

Selling the land with the trees on it is not covered by this exemption.

From age 55 you might pay no Capital Gains Tax when you sell or pass on your business or farm. Selling to a third party, the threshold is €750,000 if you are 55 to 69 and €500,000 from 70 on, while transfers to family have their own higher limits. Despite the name, you do not actually have to retire to claim it.

Tax credit up to €5,000 a year for 5 years to support a phased handover. Budget 2027 announced that the credit doubles to €10,000 a year for five years for partnerships registered from 1 January 2027 and that the three-year holding period before succession is removed for applications made from 1 January 2027.

Covers 50% of the vouched legal, accounting and advisory costs of planning your farm's succession, up to €1,500. For farmers aged 60 or over who are not already in a succession partnership, farming at least 3 hectares for 2 or more years. The 2026 round runs 1 January to 30 November. Distinct from the Succession Farm Partnership tax credit above, this pays for the advice that gets you there.

Covers up to 50% of the vouched legal, advisory and financial services costs of setting up a Registered Farm Partnership, to a maximum of €1,500. The partnership must be brand new to the DAFM register and include a Young Trained Farmer as a partner: under 41 with at least a Level 6 agricultural qualification when the partnership went on the register. Tranche 3 opened on 17 August 2026 and closed at 5pm on 30 September 2026. Tranche 4 opens in August 2027. The Department emails eligible partnerships the form, you do not apply cold. Leave VAT out of your declared costs, including it makes the application ineligible, and invoices must show the amount excluding VAT. Applications are scored and you need at least 40 marks. Priority is given to partnerships with a partner over 60.

Full stamp duty relief when land transfers to a qualifying young farmer.

Enhanced 100% relief on increases in farm trading stock.

Relief from Capital Gains Tax when you sell and buy land to consolidate a fragmented holding. Needs a Teagasc certificate. Runs to end 2029.

If you rent out or lease farm land in Ireland on a written lease of 5 years or more to someone who farms it, part of the rent may be free of income tax. Only individual landowners qualify. You cannot lease to a close relative or anyone else connected to you.

Maximum yearly reduction in taxable rent: €18,000 for a lease of 5 to under 7 years, €22,500 for 7 to under 10, €30,000 for 10 to under 15 and €40,000 for 15 years or more. You get one reduction however many leases you have and it cannot create a loss.

Land bought under a contract on or after 1 January 2024 must be owned for 7 years first. Declare the income on Form 11.

Cuts stamp duty to 1% on transfers of farmland between close relatives. Runs to end 2028.

Cuts the taxable value of inherited or gifted farmland by 90% for Capital Acquisitions Tax. You must pass an asset test and an active farmer test: farm it yourself, hold an agricultural qualification like the Green Cert, or lease it to a qualifying farmer.

The agricultural qualification that unlocks the young-farmer supports: stamp duty relief, stock relief, the higher TAMS grant rate, the young farmer payment, and the active-farmer condition for agricultural inheritance relief. Available full-time, part-time for over-23s, or by distance learning through Teagasc and the agricultural colleges, including Teagasc Mayo.

For groups of farmers and growers seeking official recognition as a Producer Organisation in beef, sheep, milk, potatoes, tillage, amenity plants or fruit and vegetables. Up to €10,000 a year towards the group's administrative costs, such as staff and technology, for its first three years after recognition, plus up to €3,000 for an approved facilitator's legal and business advice on setting up. The group must be led by producers and registered as a legal entity, with at least 20 active members in beef, milk or sheep or at least 5 in other sectors. Fruit and vegetable groups need marketed production worth over €2.5 million, while potato, tillage and amenity plant groups need over €1.5 million. You cannot claim costs already covered by other EU or national funding. The current window for recognition applications closes on 11 November 2026.

Payment for joining discussion groups to improve farm practice.

Helps advisors support farmers' mental health. Often overlooked.

Advice and schemes to cut the high rate of farm accidents. Budget 2027 announced that the tax allowance for farm safety equipment is extended to 31 December 2029 with twelve more items added.

A council grant for a private well at your home: repair (85% up to €3,000) or a new well (85% up to €5,000), plus water treatment (100% up to €1,000). Only where you cannot connect to a public or group water supply.

85% of the cost of repairing, upgrading or replacing a septic tank or domestic waste water treatment system, up to €12,000. A failing tank on its own does not qualify you, which is the thing almost everybody gets wrong. You need one of three doors: an Advisory Notice after a council inspection, or your house being in a Prioritised Area for Action, or in a High Status Objective Catchment Area. Renters can apply with the owner's permission. Doing up a vacant or derelict house counts too. It can also pay to connect you to the public sewer instead of fixing the tank. The last two routes need a letter from your council confirming your house is in the area, and there is an Eircode map you can check. For the sewer option, the council compares the cost of connecting against the cost of fixing the tank and decides. Conditions: it must be your main home, not already on a public sewer, not built in the last 7 years, and you must not have had a septic tank grant in the last 7 years. Renting only counts if it is a private long-term let and you live there. No holiday lets, no commercial properties, no caravans or mobile homes. Routine servicing, maintenance and de-sludging never qualify. There is a minimum spend of €750 on the area-based routes. Ask your council for the Rural Water Liaison Officer.

Covers up to 100% of the cost, up to €5,000, to replace lead water pipes in your home. Not means tested.

Grant aid toward providing or upgrading a private group water supply, plus an annual subsidy. The maximum grant per household rose from €15,000 to €20,000, announced 27 July 2026 as part of a new Capital Funding Programme for the Rural Water Sector.

For buying an electric or hydrogen truck or bus. The grant pays a share of the price difference between the zero-emission vehicle and its diesel equivalent: 60% for a small enterprise, 50% for a medium one and 30% for a large one, capped at €500,000 per undertaking per budgetary year. It covers N2 and N3 trucks and M2 and M3 buses and coaches. Sole traders can apply, the scheme is open to any enterprise, private, public or commercial. Applications open on 1 November and close on 30 September, or earlier if the fund runs out, so do not leave it to the last week.

For a new electric commercial van, separate from the passenger car grant. €3,800 for a small van (N1S) with a list price of €60,000 or less, and €7,600 for a large panel van (N1L) at exactly 3,500kg with a list price of €90,000 or less. The catch nobody mentions is on the small van: it gets nothing if the price is under €15,000, so there is a floor as well as a ceiling on that one. Applied at point of sale through an approved dealer.

€1,000 towards a new electric motorcycle (category L3e, over 45km/h) and €500 towards an electric moped (category L1e-B, up to 45km/h). The list price must be under €60,000. Applied at point of sale through an approved dealer, the same route as the car grant.

Pays for an independent assessor to look at your fleet and write you an electrification and charging plan: up to €4,000 for a fleet of 5 to 50 vehicles and up to €8,000 for 51 or more. You need at least 5 company vehicles. This is the piece that comes before buying anything, for a business wondering where to start. SEAI expects the grant to cover the assessment, but if the assessor charges more you pay the difference. Not open to public sector bodies.

Toward the cost of a new approved electric car. For a privately bought new car, the full price has to be between €15,000 and €50,000 to get a grant. The €50,000 cap applies from 1 August 2026, down from €60,000.

The ICE2EV pilot let you scrap an older petrol or diesel car and put €5,000 towards a new electric one, on top of the €3,500 EV grant. It opened on 1 July 2026 and filled within hours, reaching its 2,000-car cap, so it is now closed to new applications. The standard €3,500 SEAI EV grant is still open, and a review will decide whether the scrappage top-up returns.

Toward installing a charge point at a house with its own off-street parking. People living in apartments should look at the apartment charging grant instead.

Reduced vehicle registration tax on electric vehicles. The relief applies to vehicles registered before 31 December 2026. Budget 2027 announced that it will be extended for two years to the end of 2028.

Toward installing EV chargers at apartments and shared parking, where the home charger grant does not apply.

Since September 2025 children aged 5 to 8 travel free on all TFI public transport with a Child 5-8 Leap Card, ordered on leapcard.ie. Under-5s were already free. A different thing to the DSP Free Travel Scheme for older people.

Your employer buys you a bike or e-bike and you pay it back from salary, so you save the tax, USC and PRSI on it. The limits are €1,250 for a standard bike, €1,500 for an e-bike and €3,000 for a cargo or e-cargo bike. They include the safety equipment bought with it. Your employer must pay for the bike, so it does not work if you buy it and claim the cost back. You can use it again every 4 years.

Start-up grant for new small businesses in their first 18 months.

Keep your social welfare payment while you start a business: 100% in year one and 75% in year two. For people on Jobseeker's Allowance, One-Parent Family Payment, Disability Allowance or certain other payments for at least 9 months. Get written approval before you trade.

Towards the cost of starting your business, such as equipment, insurance, a website or training. Up to €2,500 on the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance. On the Short-Term Enterprise Allowance it is up to €1,000 (9 months) or €625 (6 months). Only for people approved for one of the two.

A tax credit of up to €2,000 a year for self-employed people and proprietary directors who do not get the PAYE Employee Tax Credit. Budget 2027 announced a higher maximum of €2,125 for 2027.

A free six month programme for women in rural Ireland who are starting a business or have recently started one. Applications for the 2026 programme closed on 18 September 2026.

Keep an income at your Jobseeker's Benefit rate for up to 9 months while you start a business, if you are on Jobseeker's Benefit or Jobseeker's Pay-Related Benefit. No means test. You must apply before you start trading.

If you leave PAYE employment to start your own company, you might be able to claim back income tax you already paid in earlier years. You do it by investing cash in new shares in the company, working full-time in the business and holding those shares for 4 years. One of the few reliefs that gives you money back from your employed past to fund what you are building next.

Budget 2027 says that, subject to the adoption of the new EU State aid rules (the GBER), it is intended to extend the relief in its current format. No new end date is given.

Budget 2027 says the Section 486C relief for certain start-up companies is being extended by four years to 31 December 2030. It is a separate relief from SURE for new start-up companies in their first five years of trading. It is available in full where corporation tax liability is under €40,000. Marginal relief applies for liabilities up to €60,000. The relief is capped by certain PRSI paid.

Sell qualifying business assets and you might pay Capital Gains Tax at 10% instead of the standard rate (33%, with 31% announced in Budget 2027 for disposals on or after 7 October 2026). The lifetime limit is €1,500,000 of gains for disposals on or after 1 January 2026, up from €1,000,000. It is a lifetime cap, not a per-sale one, so it covers everything you dispose of over the years. Budget 2027 announced that the standard Capital Gains Tax rate falls from 33% to 31% for disposals on or after 7 October 2026.

Enterprise Ireland's national start-up programme for early-stage founders with a business idea, run through technological universities and institutes around the country. Phase 1 is part-time evenings or a weekend bootcamp. Phase 2 is six months full-time and places are offered through a competitive selection process. It is not for retail, trades, construction, cafes, pubs, hotels, hairdressers or local professional services.

Phase 2 comes with a €15,000 tax-free stipend for one founder per team, subject to eligibility and satisfactory performance. You cannot get it if you already have funding over €100,000 or already hold one of the listed State start-up supports, such as LEO Feasibility. Having had a LEO Priming or Business Expansion Grant for the same business also rules out the stipend.

You must be over 18 and based in Ireland. You do not need a registered business. Register interest with your nearest participating college.

Helps research whether a new business idea is viable before you launch.

Free, up to two days with a Green Consultant from your Local Enterprise Office to cut your energy, water and materials costs. For businesses with 1 to 50 employees, trading over six months with turnover above €30,000.

Skillnet Ireland is the national workforce development agency, a business support agency of the Government of Ireland, and it runs 68 Skillnet Business Networks plus four national initiatives. A Business Network is a cluster of private sector companies in the same sector or the same region that band together to sort out a shared skills problem, and the network then delivers subsidised upskilling and reskilling to its member companies. Sectors covered include agriculture, aviation, biopharma and medtech, business services, design and media, digital and technology, energy, engineering and construction, financial services, food and drink, the green economy, healthcare, hospitality and tourism, and manufacturing and supply chain. This is the answer if you run a training body, an industry group or a cluster of employers trying to bring people into your sector, and it is also the answer if you are simply an employer who wants training your staff cannot otherwise afford. Private sector and commercial semi-state businesses of any size can join a network. Employees access it through their company. Established in 1999 and funded from the National Training Fund through the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. You do not apply to Skillnet Ireland centrally: you contact the Business Network that covers your sector or region directly, and the network manager works out which programmes fit. The EU, the OECD and the ILO have all cited it as a best practice model.

50% of eligible costs towards software, training and IT configuration, from a minimum of €500 up to €5,000. For businesses of 1 to 50 employees trading 6 months or more that have completed a Digital for Business project in the previous 2 years. Primary agriculture is not an eligible sector.

Solar PV grants for businesses, farms, public bodies, schools, community centres and non-profits, covering systems from 1kWp right up to 1000kWp. SEAI's page headlines up to €325,200 at a temporary enhanced rate of 45% of the invoiced cost. SEAI's page says the enhanced rate applies to new applications made from 6 October 2026 to 6 July 2027. Existing applications are not increased. The commercial big sibling of the home solar grant.

For established small firms growing or adding jobs. The standard maximum is 50% of the investment or €80,000, whichever is less. Grants over €80,000 and up to €150,000 are the exception, for projects with the potential to graduate to Enterprise Ireland or to export internationally. Check the LEO page for the rules for your firm.

A LEO grant to help a small business start exporting or break into a new overseas market: market research, consultancy in the market, trade fairs and overseas travel. For manufacturing or internationally traded services firms with 1 to 50 paid employees, trading for at least 12 months, that are not Enterprise Ireland or IDA clients.

Up to €10,000 or 50% of eligible costs. You must be solvent with current tax clearance and show you intend to export, for example by finishing a LEO exporter programme, having an internationalisation plan or already making small exports (the suggestion is under €10,000).

Apply through your Local Enterprise Office before you book, order or pay for anything. Otherwise the project can become ineligible.

Covers 75% of the cost of energy-saving equipment and technology for a small business, after a Green for Business report, a GreenStart report or an SEAI energy audit. The grant runs from €750 to €10,000. It does not cover solar panels (a business applies to SEAI's Non-Domestic Microgen grant for those), biomass or biogas boilers, building energy upgrades such as insulation, heat pumps for space heating, pumps, ventilation heat recovery or air conditioning, waste treatment for regulatory purposes, anything fossil fuel related or mobile assets such as electric forklifts and air compressors.

Local authorities may offer a grant towards improving a shopfront, such as painting it or repairing or replacing the shop sign. It typically covers 50% of the cost of the work, up to a maximum that varies by year and by local authority. Apply to your local authority's economic development or business support section. You must be approved before starting the work.

The state tourism agency's supports for anyone running a tourism or hospitality business: a B&B, guesthouse, hotel, self catering, restaurant, cafe, pub, visitor attraction, activity provider or tour operator. Free training courses, toolkits and workshops, and the programmes open at the moment are the Climate Action Programme, the Employer Excellence Programme, Cost Management, which is free expert advice on energy and other operating costs, and the Conference Ambassador Programme. There are also Reputation for Value supports on pricing, and a travel trade strand for reaching overseas visitors. What you get here is expertise and training. There is no cash grant to run your business. Fáilte Ireland's capital money goes to large scale projects, not to a small operator's day to day costs, and their own funding page sends you elsewhere for money: Digital for Business and LeanPlus through Enterprise Ireland and the Local Enterprise Offices, and wage subsidies through the National Enterprise Hub. Their business events and travel trade supports are the route if you want to reach overseas visitors. Training is delivered online and in person and the events calendar lists what is coming up. Three programmes that ran before are now CLOSED, so do not go looking for them: Digital that Delivers, Access for Success and F&B 360. The one fund that is always open is the Destination Subvention, but it is for major international events, needing 100 or more overseas delegates for an association conference, or 50 delegates or €75,000 in ground costs for a meeting or incentive trip, so it is not for a guesthouse or a cafe. Their bigger capital schemes, Shared Island Coast to Coast and the Strategic Tourism Festival scheme, are both closed and were aimed at existing attractions and festivals rather than accommodation or food businesses.

SEAI's Business Energy Upgrades scheme pays a grant towards a heat pump or a solar thermal system for businesses, the agricultural sector, public bodies, community groups and charities. SEAI's pages show up to 30% today: grants of up to €100,000 for a heat pump and up to €15,000 for solar thermal. On 29 September 2026 the Government announced a proposed grant rate of 45% of eligible costs for both, with the measures due to open from 6 October 2026 subject to final implementation arrangements. SEAI's pages still showed up to 30% on 6 October 2026. Whether the caps change has not been published. For the heat pump grant you must be replacing a fossil fuel based system. You apply online through the SEAI portal.

A scheme for rural pubs, announced in Budget 2027. The Minister for Finance said €15 million is being provided to keep pub doors open, and that the scheme will be developed with the Minister for Enterprise over the next number of weeks. The Department of Finance's Budget tables list it as a Measure for Rural Pubs. What counts as a rural pub, how much each pub gets and how to apply have not been published, so there is nothing to apply for today.

A voucher worth up to €10,000 for a small business to work with a university or research body on a specific innovation, technical or data question.

A co-funded grant for a company taking on a research and development project to create a new product, service or process.

EU-funded programme, up to €169 million by 2027, to help the Midlands move on from peat extraction: money for local business diversification, SMEs and start-ups, research and innovation, and community and environmental projects. Only for the designated Midlands Just Transition territory.

Grants of €30,000 to €150,000 across three funding tiers for SMEs in the Northern and Western Region developing low-carbon products and processes, ERDF co-funded. Call 1 opened on 29 July 2026 and closed at 17:00 on 4 September 2026. The NWRA page gives no later call. An extra €250,000 training and upskilling fund is also available.

A feasibility-study grant worth up to €35,000 to investigate whether an R&D or innovation project is technically feasible before you commit to the full project.

A grant worth up to €150,000 to develop and validate a market-entry strategy for a new market or a new product, covering the research and planning before you commit to launching.

Small business loans for firms that can't get bank finance.

The Western Development Commission runs the Western Investment Fund for businesses in the western region. The region is seven counties and nowhere else: Clare, Donegal, Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon and Sligo. That makes this the one place a business in Sligo, Mayo, Leitrim or Roscommon has a development agency of its own. It backs cleantech, creative industries, ICT, tourism, medtech and life sciences, food and natural resources, plus manufacturing and internationally traded services. Be clear about what this is before you apply. It is loan finance and equity, so it is money you repay or a share of your company you give up. None of it is a grant.

Loans are usually €50,000 to €300,000, repaid monthly over three to ten years. The project needs to show positive cashflow and an ability to repay.

Do not assume this is cheap money because it is State money. The Commission lends at commercial interest rates: the EU reference rate for Ireland plus a margin set by the risk of the project, variable and reviewed every year.

First round equity is €250,000 to €1m for a business with growth potential and a management team with a track record, in return for a minority shareholding.

Equity goes in on the same terms as the private investors alongside it. The total public sector share of any investment round cannot go above 50%.

The company must be registered, headquartered and controlled in the western region with its key business functions managed there. A company relocating into the region also meets this rule.

The Commission was set up in 1997 and put on a statutory footing by the Western Development Commission Act 1998. The fund as a whole is valued at around €72m and recycles as it is repaid.

Loans for community groups and social enterprises in the seven western counties: Clare, Donegal, Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon and Sligo. It funds enterprise space and job creation, and social and recreational projects like sport, environment projects, community childcare, family resource centres, arts and heritage, Tidy Towns and community education. Here is the part that solves a real problem. If your group has been approved for LEADER funding but cannot afford to spend the money up front, this fund lends you the money to do the work. The LEADER company then pays the grant straight to the Commission to clear the loan. It is not for refinancing an existing loan, a bridging loan for anything else, or a feasibility study, and every project must show it can repay. Term loans run from €50,000 to €200,000 over up to ten years. A social enterprise judged strategic to the region can borrow up to €1m over 20 years, which means an impact across at least three counties or a whole sector, supporting 100 or more jobs. The LEADER bridging loan is charged at 3% a year on a monthly basis until the grant aid is approved. If the bridging loan runs past 12 months the fee rises to 6% of any outstanding balance. Those rates are reviewed each year.

A permanent micro-loan fund to help creative businesses in the western region start or grow, after the pilot succeeded. The region is Clare, Donegal, Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon and Sligo. Eligible creative sectors named by the Commission are advertising, architecture, art and antiques, crafts, design, digital media, fashion, internet and software, music and visual and performing arts, and publishing. There is also the WRAP Fund, the Western Region Audio-visual Producer's Fund, run with Ardán and the local authorities and Údarás na Gaeltachta, which supports film, television drama, animation and gaming. This is lending, not a grant. A western audio-visual company can get company level funding of up to €200,000 to scale the business or develop its own intellectual property. WRAP company level funding is a repayable loan, priced at the EU Reference Rate for Ireland plus 450 or 650 basis points depending on the track record of the business.

Revenue repays part of the Mineral Oil Tax (excise) on diesel bought and used in Ireland for business transport, for licensed road haulage and bus or coach operators using qualifying vehicles. You need a valid road transport licence (Irish or EU) and you claim online through Revenue's ROS system each quarter. The amount is a sliding scale that rises as the diesel price rises, so it changes from quarter to quarter.

A cash incentive for an employer who hires someone who has been out of work for a while, paid monthly to help with the wages.

Helps an employer pay a fair wage to a member of staff with a disability by topping up the cost of their hours. Budget 2027 reduces the minimum hours needed to qualify from 15 to 8 a week from April 2027. It also extends the scheme to people moving from Illness Benefit to Partial Capacity Benefit, with no date given.

Subsidies towards registered childcare. Under €68,000 household income you can get up to €5.10 an hour per child. Above it you get €2.14 an hour with no means test. More families qualify since 31 August 2026. From September 2027 the universal rate rises to €2.50.

Free preschool for children in the two years before school.

Universal and targeted supports across 7 levels so a child with a disability can take part in the free ECCE pre-school programme, covering expert advice, equipment and alterations, therapy access and funding for extra staff (Level 7, currently €246 a week to the pre-school). No diagnosis is needed, which most parents do not realise. Since September 2024 it also reaches beyond ECCE hours: a child enrolled in ECCE can be supported for up to a further 15 hours a week during term and up to 30 hours a week out of term, so the support does not simply stop when the ECCE session or the term ends. Your pre-school applies, not you. Budget 2027 announced that AIM supports in the ECCE programme will extend to children under three from September 2027 and that the Level 7 capitation rate will rise by 6%. No start date is given for the rise.

Childminders who look after up to 3 children under 18 in their own home pay no income tax on that money if it comes to €15,000 a year or less. You do need to tell the HSE and file a Form 11. Watch the cliff edge: go over €15,000 and the whole lot becomes taxable. Budget 2027 announced a rise to €20,000 and the removal of the limit of 3 children, with no start date given yet. Budget 2027 announced that the ceiling rises from €15,000 to €20,000 for qualifying childminders caring for children in the childminder's home and that the limit on the number of children is removed, subject to compliance with regulatory requirements. No start date is given.

Monthly payment for each child under 16, or under 19 if in full-time education or training.

Weekly tax-free top-up for working parents on lower pay. It can also bring Fuel Allowance with it during the fuel season, with no separate application, if nobody else in your home already gets it.

A weekly payment per child if you leave certain welfare payments for work or self-employment after at least a year on them. €58 a week per child under 12 (€78 if 12 or over) in year one, half that in year two, for up to 4 children.

Support for parents raising a child on their own.

A one-off €280 payment for every new baby that qualifies for Child Benefit, on top of the first month's payment.

A yearly tax credit for a parent or guardian of a child who is permanently incapacitated, physically or mentally, and unlikely to be able to support themselves. You can claim for more than one child.

Weekly payment while on maternity leave, if you have enough PRSI contributions.

Two weeks' payment for a parent taking paternity leave, which must start within 26 weeks of the birth or adoption.

Up to 9 weeks' payment per parent during parent's leave in the child's first 2 years.

A weekly payment if you are pregnant or breastfeeding and your job has a risk your employer cannot remove or work around, so you are sent home on health and safety leave. Your employer pays the first 3 weeks.

The old Increase for a Qualified Child under a new name, the extra amount added to your weekly welfare payment for each child who depends on you. Since January 2026 the full rate is €58 a week for a child under 12 and €78 for a child aged 12 or over, with half rates of €29 and €39. Full or half depends on your circumstances: parenting alone usually means the full rate, living with a spouse or partner often means half. Budget 2027: from January 2027 the full weekly rate rises to €64 for a child under 12 and €84 for a child aged 12 or over.

Paid for 24 weeks from the date you adopt your child, at a standard rate of €299 a week in 2026, based on your PRSI record. It works much like Maternity Benefit, just triggered by the adoption rather than a birth. Only one adopting parent in a couple can claim it, so it is worth deciding early which of you takes the leave. Budget 2027: the maximum weekly rate rises to €309 from January 2027.

€400 a week for a foster child under 12 and €425 for a child of 12 or over, not means tested and not taxable. The foster child also gets a medical card with no means test, and foster carers can claim the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance too. Budget 2027 announced a new €125 a week payment to foster carers of a young person who stays in full-time second-level education after turning 18, until their 19th birthday. No start date is given.

Free information, support and advocacy for anyone raising a relative's or a friend's child. Kinship care is when a child lives full time with a grandparent, aunt, uncle, brother, sister, cousin or family friend because they cannot live with their parents. Thousands of families are doing it without ever hearing the term, which is part of why so many of them never claim the Guardian's Payment. Kinship Care Ireland is a national programme run by the charity Treoir. Email info@kinshipcare.ie or ring 087 148 7124.

Around €300 a week for young people leaving care aged 18 to 21 who stay in education or training. It can be extended for up to 2 further years, to age 23, on a clear education or training pathway. Budget 2027 announced that the aftercare grant for young people leaving care rises from €300 to €500. The grant is not the weekly allowance on this card. The Expenditure Report describes it as a one-off payment to support care leavers set up home, payable at any age from 18 to 23. No start date has been published. A new transitional aftercare allowance of €200 a week for up to 12 months is also announced.

The first €3,000 of gifts from any one person in a calendar year is free of Capital Acquisitions Tax and it does not eat into your lifetime threshold. That means each parent, grandparent or anyone else can give you €3,000 a year with no tax. You do not need to file a CAT return to claim it for gifts of up to €3,000 a year, but a return is needed once the taxable value of a gift is more than 80% of your group threshold. It applies to gifts only, not to inheritances.

A new one-year transitional aftercare allowance of €200 a week for young people who have left State care and have not yet decided what work, education or training they want to pursue. It is payable for up to 12 months until age 21. It is announced in Budget 2027 and is not open yet. No start date, way to apply or detailed eligibility has been published. Budget 2027 also raises the aftercare grant for young people leaving care from €300 to €500. The Expenditure Report describes the grant as a one-off payment to support care leavers set up home, payable at any age from 18 to 23. It is a different payment from the weekly allowances. The Standardised Aftercare Allowance on this site is the existing weekly payment for care leavers in education or training.

Annual help with the cost of kitting children out for school. Applications closed on 30 September 2026.

Subsidised transport to school for eligible children.

An extra tax credit of €1,900 a year for a single parent or carer who has a child living with them, plus a €4,000 increase in your standard rate band. Widely unclaimed. Only one parent (the main carer) can get it.

Free daily meals for children in participating schools, now rolled out to all primary schools. Your school applies and runs it, so ask the school if it is in the scheme.

Free schoolbooks, workbooks and core classroom resources for all primary pupils and, since 2025, all post-primary students. Funded through the school, so there is nothing for parents to claim.

Extra summer schooling for children with autism, a severe or profound learning disability, or who are most at risk of educational disadvantage. The home-based option funds 10 hours a week for 4 weeks, so you can employ a tutor or SNA yourself. The school-based option runs 2 weeks (post-primary) to up to 5 weeks (special schools) over the summer holidays. Where a specific learning difficulty sits: dyslexia and dyscalculia are not in the Department's list of complex special educational needs, which gets priority, but a pupil getting special education teaching or SNA support during the year can be considered for a remaining place under the separate at risk of educational disadvantage route. That is the school's call, so ask early.

Paid directly to you to fund a private tutor when your child cannot attend school: chronic illness, no school place found yet, early intervention for autism, or a child in care without a placement. Current hourly rates (from 1 June 2026): €51.20 primary, €56.48 post-primary, €43.78 modified rate.

The Holiday Hunger Programme provides school meals as part of the Department of Education and Youth Summer Programme, funded through the Department of Social Protection School Meals Programme. It began as a pilot and Budget 2027 says it will become permanent, benefitting over 40,000 children. The Department's material does not say how families take part. No 2027 dates, amounts or rules have been published.

The free route to having a child assessed for dyslexia, dyscalculia, a reading, spelling or maths difficulty or another special educational need. The school refers to its own NEPS psychologist. There is no charge for an assessment the school arranges, so the first conversation is with the class teacher or the special education teacher rather than with a private psychologist. Where NEPS cannot do the assessment itself, the school can commission a private one under the Scheme for the Commissioning of Psychological Assessments. A NEPS psychologist has to sanction that in advance and the Department pays the assessor, so it still costs the family nothing. Worth knowing before you pay for anything: a child does NOT need a diagnosis to get special education teaching support in school. The Department moved to an identified-need model in 2017 and school test scores now decide most of the teaching hours a school is given.

Funds a computer or software for a student who cannot access the curriculum without it, for example a child with dyslexia, dyscalculia, a hearing or visual impairment, a physical disability or a speech and language disorder. Only the school can apply. The principal applies to the NCSE, which recommends it to the Department of Education for a decision. The criteria are in Circular 0010/2013. Hearing impairment, visual impairment, physical disability and severe or profound general learning disability are considered automatically. A specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia or dyscalculia, a moderate general learning disability, autism, a speech and language disorder or multiple disabilities can qualify. The circular says plainly that it should not be assumed every child with one will. A pupil with a mild or borderline mild general learning difficulty and no additional disability does not qualify. There is no published grant figure: the Department tells the school what has been approved, case by case.

A student with significant, persistent literacy difficulties can be exempted from studying Irish. Significant means literacy scores at or below the 10th percentile. Persistent means the difficulty is still there despite support over time. The SCHOOL decides, and a psychological or medical report is NOT required, which is the part parents are most often told wrongly. The current circulars are 0054/2022 for primary and 0055/2022 for post-primary, replacing the 2019 ones. The school grants the exemption on its own evidence: the support already given, how the child responded to it and the current level of need shown by school testing. If you are told a private report is needed, ask the school for the circular and for the school testing record.

For the Junior Cycle, the Leaving Certificate and the Leaving Certificate Applied. A candidate with a permanent or long-term condition, including a specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia or dyscalculia, can apply to the State Examinations Commission for a reasonable accommodation in how they sit the exam. The school makes the application, in the autumn before the exam year, so raise it early with the year head or the special education teacher. For the 2026 exams the deadlines were 21 November 2025 for Leaving Certificate and Leaving Certificate Applied candidates and 12 December 2025 for Junior Cycle, so the window is the autumn before, not the spring of the exam year. The Commission publishes the scheme and the accommodations available each year, so ask the school for the current RACE circular.

Up to €5,000 towards tuition fees for anyone 18 or over who spent at least 6 months in care in the Republic of Ireland before turning 18 and is not getting a SUSI fee grant. The 2026 window closed at 5pm on Friday 2 October.

The main means-tested grant for college fees and living costs, including approved undergraduate courses in the UK or another EU country. For a PLC course it pays the maintenance grant only. You can still apply for 2026/27 but late applications miss priority assessment.

The State pays the tuition fees for eligible first-time, full-time undergraduates. You still pay the annual Student Contribution of €2,500 for 2026/27, though SUSI can pay some or all of it.

Help from your own college if you are struggling with money, for rent, food, books, travel, childcare and more. For students at the colleges on the HEA's list, at Level 6 to 10, full time or part time. You apply through your college.

Funding paid to your college for assistive technology, helpers, learning support or transport if you have a verified disability and study an approved course. Personal assistance and transport are mainly for physical or mobility difficulties or sight loss. It does not pay for diagnosis or assessment.

Claim 20% tax relief on qualifying third-level tuition fees you have paid, above a yearly disregard amount.

Reduced points entry to college, plus extra support once you are there, for students from a disadvantaged background. For applicants under 23 with 2025 household income under €58,470 (higher for bigger families). Apply through the CAO.

Lets school leavers with a disability or ongoing illness compete for CAO places at reduced points. For school leavers under 23 on 1 January. The list of conditions is wider than people expect, including dyslexia, ADHD, autism and anxiety.

SUSI pays €750 to €7,500 a year towards fees for an approved part-time Level 6 to 8 course, depending on the credits you take. Means tested on household income. Applications for 2026/27 are open.

A grant for students in the international protection system, which is the route people miss entirely because SUSI itself is closed to them. You qualify if you have been continuously resident in the State for 3 years or more AND have been a protection applicant, or at leave to remain stage, for 3 years or more, counted to the day before your course starts, and no deportation order has been issued against you. It covers a PLC course, an undergraduate course or a postgraduate course. There is an income test, which may or may not count your parents' income depending on your circumstances. Applications for 2026/2027 should be made as soon as possible and before 5 November 2026. It is administered by SUSI on behalf of the Department of Further and Higher Education, but note that you do NOT apply online: you print the form and POST it to SUSI, PO Box 12209, Freepost FDN7608, Dublin 4, with no stamp needed. What you get is the equivalent of a maintenance grant and a fee grant set at the same rates as the Student Grant Scheme, though it is not formally a Student Grant award.

Covers most of the cost of a Gaeltacht summer course. Up to €950 or 85% of the fee for a three week course, and up to €820 or 85% for a two week course, whichever is less. More than 800 places a year. The condition people miss is the school. It is only open to students of DEIS post-primary schools, so your school's DEIS status decides it, whatever your family income. It is run by Galway and Roscommon ETB rather than the Department, and you apply by emailing them directly. Your school usually confirms eligibility.

For students from groups most under-represented in higher education, based on need. Applied for through your college.

20% tax relief on fees for a SOLAS-approved foreign language course (such as French, Spanish or German) or IT and computer course of less than two years that ends in a certificate of competence. You can claim for yourself or for fees you pay for someone else. Irish, English and postgraduate courses do not qualify.

Fees under €315 get no relief. Above that, relief is given on fees up to €1,270, so it is worth up to €254 even if the course costs more. One course per person per tax year. Fees paid by a grant, scholarship or employer do not count and part-funding must be declared.

Check Revenue's lists of approved courses and providers first. Claim the same way as tuition fees relief.

Income from a scholarship is tax free if you are in full-time education at a university, college, school or other educational establishment and the scholarship is for your education rather than research. It does not cover fellowships. There is no income threshold.

It is exempt from Income Tax, USC and PRSI. Fill in and sign the Scholarship Exemption Declaration Form and give it to your college's administration office.

Students on extended leave do not count as full time. A scholarship from your employer is only exempt if at least 75% of the scheme's payouts go to people not connected with the sponsor.

Means-tested grant toward postgraduate fees, with maintenance for those on the special rate.

Free or heavily subsidised college courses to reskill or upskill, from Level 6 to Level 9, including ICT conversion courses.

Free full-time courses through your local Education and Training Board for unemployed adults aged 21 or over. You need to be unemployed for at least six months and on certain welfare payments. The dependent partner of someone who qualifies can apply too.

Return to full-time study while keeping a social welfare payment you are already getting.

Part-time further education courses, Government-funded and free of charge.

An annual €500 payment for Back to Education Allowance recipients who have a qualified child.

Paid, work-based training across trades, tech and business.

A €2,000-a-year employer grant on many programmes, and a State training allowance for craft apprentices during off-the-job training.

Free GP care and hospital services, based on income. Prescriptions have a charge, €1.50 per item under 70 and €1 per item at 70 or over, capped monthly. People aged 70 or over are assessed under separate, higher income limits.

Free GP visits for everyone aged 70 or over and every child under 8. Carers on Carer's Allowance or Carer's Benefit get them too. Anyone aged 8 to 69 can apply on an income test.

Up to 8 free counselling sessions for medical card holders aged 18 and over with mild to moderate difficulties. Your GP or another health professional makes the referral, so it is worth asking directly.

Free braces and orthodontic treatment from the HSE for a child with a severe problem with their bite. The referral has to be made before the child turns 16. Most children are seen at the free dental check-up in 6th class and the dentist refers them for an orthodontic assessment if they need one. Around a third of children need treatment. Adults cannot get HSE orthodontic treatment, and a medical card does not cover braces. Once a child is on the waiting list before they turn 16 they get treatment when their turn comes, even if they are older by then. Not every child referred is accepted: the HSE treats those who meet its eligibility guidelines and a child who is not accepted has to go privately. For private treatment at any age the cost of braces qualifies for health expenses tax relief at 20%, with a Med 2 form signed by your dentist, which is worth EUR 600 back on a EUR 3,000 course of treatment.

Free dental care for medical card holders aged 16 and over: a yearly exam, any extractions needed, two fillings a year, a scale and polish, and some other treatments.

A free card that covers necessary public healthcare when you are visiting another EU or EEA country or Switzerland. Free to apply for and to renew.

Publicly funded fertility treatment through the HSE. Your GP refers you to a regional fertility hub, and eligible couples can get one free round of IVF or ICSI.

Free contraception for women, girls, trans, non-binary and intersex people aged 17 to 35, including the GP visit, the prescription and LARC fitting. The morning-after pill is free at a participating pharmacy.

Order a free STI test kit to your door if you are 17 or over and living in Ireland. Results come by text, and if anything needs follow-up, that is free too through the public clinics.

Caps what you or your family pay at €80 a month for approved prescribed medicines, plus CPAP machine and oxygen rental. Anyone living in Ireland who intends to stay at least a year can apply. There is no means test. You need a DPS card.

Free cervical screening (smear test) for women and anyone with a cervix aged 25 to 65. It is every 3 years from age 25 to 29, then every 5 years from 30 to 65. The test checks for HPV, the main cause of cervical cancer, so changes can be found and treated early.

Free diabetic eye screening for everyone in Ireland with type 1 or type 2 diabetes aged 12 or over. Diabetes can damage the eyes over time, so regular screening catches changes early, and any treatment you need is free too. Usually offered once a year.

A free nasal-spray flu vaccine for all children aged 2 to 17, given through participating GPs, pharmacies and some primary schools. It is a spray, not an injection, and it helps protect children and the people around them each winter.

Since 1 June 2025 the cost of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) medicines is covered for anyone with a prescription, to help with the menopause. The pharmacy dispensing fee is covered too, so at a participating pharmacy there is nothing to pay. You need a Drugs Payment Scheme card or a medical card.

Free approved medicines and medical appliances for one of 16 listed conditions, such as diabetes, epilepsy, cystic fibrosis or multiple sclerosis. No means test. If your condition is not on the list the scheme does not cover it.

Tax relief at 20% on health costs you paid, such as doctor and consultant fees, prescriptions and non-routine dental work. You must have paid tax in the year. Routine dental care does not qualify. Physiotherapy needs a practitioner's prescription. You can claim the last four years.

The HSE may repay what you paid for prescribed medical (medicinal) cannabis or pay the pharmacy directly, for three conditions only: MS spasticity resistant to all standard therapies; chemotherapy nausea and vomiting that continues despite standard anti-sickness medicine; severe epilepsy that has not responded to standard medication. A hospital consultant must confirm the condition. A GP cannot prescribe it.

It only covers products bought from Transvaal Apotheek, a pharmacy in the Netherlands. Your consultant needs a ministerial licence from the Department of Health to prescribe.

Apply to the PCRS for funding approval first. Then post the licence, the PCRS approval letter, proof of payment and the original Transvaal invoices to the scheme office at Kilcreene, Co. Kilkenny, R95 DK07.

Free bowel cancer screening for people aged 57 to 71 (widened from 58-70 on 1 April 2026). You get a free home FIT test kit every 2 years, and a free follow-up colonoscopy if the result needs it.

Free breast screening (mammogram) for women aged 50 to 69 who live in Ireland and have a PPS number. You are invited by letter roughly every 2 years. It can pick up breast cancer early, before there are any signs.

The free heel prick test offered to every newborn baby in Ireland, usually on day 3 to 5. It now screens for 11 rare but serious conditions, after Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID) and Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) were added in April 2026. About 99.9% of parents in Ireland agree to it.

A free chickenpox vaccine for babies born on or after 1 October 2024, given at 12 months alongside the other routine childhood vaccines. Available since 1 October 2025, through your GP.

A free once-off antibody injection called nirsevimab that protects your baby from RSV through their first winter. It is your choice whether to have it. From 1 September 2026 it is offered to babies born between 1 September 2026 and 28 February 2027, given in the maternity hospital soon after birth. Babies born between 1 March 2026 and 31 August 2026 can get it from their GP, so ask your GP practice for an appointment. Some premature and higher-risk babies under 24 months can also get it, arranged through their paediatrician. The HSE page has the details.

Help with dental, optical and hearing aid costs if you have enough PRSI, plus hair replacement products for hair loss caused by cancer or alopecia. Hearing aids: up to €500 towards each aid once every four calendar years, plus one repair per aid in that period up to €100 per aid. Hair replacement: up to €500 towards a non-surgical scalp hair replacement product once a calendar year, where the hair loss comes from a disease or its treatment, such as cancer or alopecia. The supplier must have a contract with the Department.

A means-tested weekly payment for people who are blind or vision impaired, to help with extra living costs.

A means-tested weekly payment for people who are blind or have serious sight loss, up to €254 a week. You need evidence of your sight loss and there is more than one way to give it. Being registered with Vision Ireland counts on its own. So does a report from an ophthalmic surgeon or from an optometrist. Distinct from the Blind Welfare Allowance above, a separate, smaller HSE payment you may be able to get on top of this one, not instead of it. Budget 2027: the maximum weekly rate rises from €254 to €264 from January 2027; the weekly earnings disregard rises by €10 to €175 from July 2027.

Get certain public healthcare in another EU or EEA country and claim back the cost, up to what it would cost the HSE here.

The HSE can pay for surgery or treatment in the EU, EEA, UK or Switzerland when the treatment you need is not available in Ireland, or not available in time given your condition. A public hospital consultant must refer you (a GP referral is not enough), you apply on the E112 (S2) form, and the HSE must approve it before you travel or start treatment.

The HSE pays for endometriosis surgery abroad if you live in Ireland and are on a public or private waiting list here for endometriosis surgery your consultant gynaecologist recommends, with no surgery date yet. Your consultant must refer you to one of the HSE's approved hospitals abroad. Do not book anything until the HSE approves you. At some hospitals you pay up front and claim it back, so ask the scheme before you choose.

It covers 1 pre-op appointment, the surgery and your hospital stay, scans or blood tests needed for it and basic return air or sea fares, repaid after you get home. Fares for 1 companion over 18 are covered if your consultant recommends it. Accommodation, food, luggage and taxis are not.

You and your consultant each complete part of the form. A decision takes about 15 working days. endometriosisabroad@hse.ie or HSE Live 1800 700 700.

€770 a year towards a wig, hairpiece or head covering if you have lost your hair because of cancer treatment. You do not need a medical card and you do not need a PRSI record, which is what makes this different from the hair replacement payment under Treatment Benefit. Your care team or your GP prescribes it and gives you a prescription or letter for a supplier, then the prescription and the invoice go to the HSE. If the wig costs more than €770 you pay the difference.

A tax allowance of €825 a year if you get the Blind Person's Tax Credit and own a trained guide dog from an accredited supplier such as Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind. It is given at the standard 20% rate, so it is worth €165 a year off your tax bill. Claim it through Revenue with confirmation from the supplier. Separately, if a medical practitioner advised you to use a guide dog for blindness or visual impairment, you may be able to claim the actual cost of keeping it instead, with receipts and no upper limit.

A tax allowance of €825 a year, worth €165 at the standard 20% rate, if you have a trained assistance dog. That covers mobility, seizure alert, hearing alert and autism assistance dogs. The dog must come from an organisation accredited by Assistance Dogs Europe. Separate from the Guide Dog Allowance, which is specifically for guide dogs.

You may be able to get pads, pull-ups and other continence products free of charge from the HSE. A healthcare professional has to assess you first and decide the most suitable product. Severity matters: public health nurses can supply pads for people with severe leaks, while mild to moderate leakage is generally pointed towards supermarkets and pharmacies. Start with the public health nurse at your local HSE health centre.

Up to €254 a week for people aged 16 and under 66 whose disability has lasted or may last for at least a year and who are substantially restricted from doing suitable work. It is means tested. You need a medical report from your doctor.

Practical supports to help a person with a disability get or keep a job and to help their employer: equipment, workplace adaptations up to €25,000, a job coach and more. It replaced the Reasonable Accommodation Fund.

Repayment or remission of VAT and VRT on an adapted vehicle, with limits from €10,000 to €48,000, plus a fuel grant. You need a Primary Medical Certificate. The vehicle must be adapted for the disability and bought, not leased.

You can claim back the VAT paid on certain aids and appliances bought for a person with a disability, things like walk-in baths, commode chairs and adapted domestic aids. Claim through eRepayments in myAccount or on paper Form VAT 61A, within 4 years of the purchase. Vehicles are not covered here, they come under the separate Disabled Drivers scheme.

Paid, mentored work placements for graduates with disabilities, funded by the Department of Social Protection. Joining the WAM database is what gets you matched with employers, so that is the step to take.

A parking card for a person with a permanent medical condition and a severe mobility problem, so they can use disabled parking bays. It belongs to the person, as driver or passenger, not the car, lasts two years and works across the EU. You apply through the Irish Wheelchair Association or Disabled Drivers Association, with a GP certifying eligibility (Primary Medical Certificate holders qualify automatically).

A free HSE assessment for a child who may have a disability, a legal right under the Disability Act 2005. It identifies your child's needs and the health services to meet them. For children born on or after 1 June 2002, applied for by a parent, guardian or a young person of 16 or 17. Once you apply in writing the HSE must start within 3 months, and a Service Statement of the supports follows.

A payment if you have a lasting loss of physical or mental faculty because of an accident at work, an accident travelling directly to or from work, or a disease you picked up from your work. You must have been in insurable employment at the time, and the disablement is assessed at 15% or more. It is paid as a pension (weekly or every four weeks) where disablement is 20% or more, or as a one-off gratuity below that. It is not means tested, and you can get it whether or not you are able to work. Budget 2027: the maximum weekly rate rises from €285 to €295 from January 2027.

An extra weekly payment on top of Disablement Benefit for people who have permanently lost the ability to work because of an accident at work or an illness caused by their job. Only for people already getting Disablement Benefit who do not qualify for Illness Benefit, Invalidity Pension or Disability Allowance. Not means tested. You usually cannot get another social welfare payment with it. You cannot earn more than €33 a week from work, unless the Department gives you written permission for retraining or part-time rehabilitative work.

€254 a week under 66 and €273.30 at 66 or over. You may also get an increase for a spouse, civil partner or cohabitant (up to €168.60 under 66 and €181.40 at 66 or over, reduced if their gross income is over €100 a week and not paid if it is over €310) and for each child who lives with you (up to €58 under 12 and €78 over 12).

A deciding officer checks, using a medical report, whether the injury or illness from your previous job stops you working. Disablement Benefit Section, Longford: 0818 927770.

An increase to Disablement Benefit for people who need daily care, such as help washing, dressing or eating, because of an accident at work or a work-related illness. You must be getting a Disablement Pension assessed at 50% or more and the Department's medical advisor must recommend it. You must need the care for at least 6 months. It is not paid if someone gets Carer's Allowance or Carer's Benefit for looking after you.

A flat €271 a week, whatever level of care you need. It is not paid during stays in hospital or other institutions. You can keep it abroad within the EU while you still need care, for stays of less than 6 months.

Contact the Disablement Benefit Section in Longford: 0818 927770 or WorkRelatedDisablementBenefit@welfare.ie.

An income tax credit of €1,950 a year if you are blind or have serious sight loss, or €3,900 if you and your spouse or civil partner are both blind. Claimed through Revenue myAccount alongside your other tax credits.

The first ever Cost of Disability payment, announced in Budget 2027. It starts with a lump sum of €500 in 2027 for people who get a long-term disability payment, almost 240,000 people. It is announced and not open yet. No payment date, list of qualifying payments or way to apply has been published, so there is nothing to apply for today. The Department says further development of the payment will be co-designed with disabled people and their advocates. The Expenditure Report says the funding, pending a design process with disabled people, will allow a permanent payment in 2028.

A new Department of Transport scheme to help pay for adapting a vehicle so that a driver or passenger can enter, exit or operate it. It was announced on 2 October 2026 and is not open yet. The Department says it will open for applications early in 2027 and that full details will be published once agreed. It will not be means tested and applicants will not pay upfront. Applications will include a supplier chosen from a pre-approved list. Payment will be made directly to the supplier. It is a standalone support and does not replace the Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers Scheme. The amounts and what is covered have not been published.

€259.50 a week if you cannot work because of a long-term illness or disability. It is based on your PRSI record, not a means test. It is for people unable to work for at least a year and likely to stay unable for at least another year or for life.

Go back to work at reduced capacity and keep part of your Illness Benefit or Invalidity Pension. €127.00 to €259.50 a week, depending on a medical assessment of moderate, severe or profound restriction.

Refunds the cost of medical care and treatment after a work accident or a prescribed occupational disease, where the HSE or Treatment Benefit does not already cover it. That takes in GP visits, prescriptions, physiotherapy, appliances and the travel to get treatment. Plenty of people assume Treatment Benefit is the end of the line, which is exactly why this one gets missed.

A weekly payment if you cannot work in the short term because you are sick and your doctor signs you off, based on your PRSI contributions. Budget 2027: the maximum personal weekly rate rises from €254 to €264 from January 2027.

A weekly payment, part of the Occupational Injuries Benefit scheme, if you cannot work because of an accident at work, an accident commuting to or from work, or a disease caused by your job. Paid at the same rate as full-rate Illness Benefit, for up to 26 weeks. Self-employed people are not covered. Distinct from Disablement Benefit below, which is for a permanent loss of faculty, not a temporary incapacity. Budget 2027: the maximum personal weekly rate rises from €254 to €264 from January 2027.

Tax relief on premiums you pay for income protection insurance, also called permanent health insurance or income continuance, which keeps paying you if illness or injury stops you working. The policy or group scheme must be approved by Revenue. Relief is limited to 10% of your total income.

There is no PRSI or USC relief on the premiums. Payments you receive from the policy are taxed through PAYE and USC. An Employee Protection Insurance policy held by your employer does not count.

Claim in myAccount under Health, then Income Continuance, for this year or the previous 4 years. If your employer already takes the premium from your pay before tax, do not claim it again.

Income tax relief on nursing home fees you pay for yourself or a relative, at your highest rate of tax, up to 40%. The home must provide 24-hour on-site nursing care. You cannot claim the part the HSE pays under Fair Deal.

State help with the cost of long-term nursing home care.

Funded help at home with everyday tasks for older people.

A means-tested weekly payment if you care for someone full time. Since July 2026 the income disregard is €1,000 a week for a single person and €2,000 for a couple, so many more carers qualify. On the State Pension or certain other payments? You can get half rate on top.

€2,000 a year, tax free, for each person you care for full time, to spend as you like. Paid automatically if you get Carer's Allowance, Carer's Benefit or Domiciliary Care Allowance on the first Thursday in June. You can still get it if you are on none of them.

A monthly payment of €380 (€190 half rate) for a child under 16 with a severe disability who needs far more care than other children their age. Not means tested. The child also gets a medical card and you get the Carer's Support Grant each June.

A PRSI-based payment if you leave work or cut your hours to care for someone full-time, for up to 2 years. Since July 2026 the income limit for a job you keep alongside it has been €1,000 a week (up €375), so more working carers can qualify.

A tax credit of up to €1,950 a year for a married couple or civil partners, jointly assessed, where one of you cares for a child, someone 65 or over or someone permanently incapacitated. Carer's Allowance does not count as income for it. Budget 2027 announced €2,050 for 2027.

If you are married or in a civil partnership but are still being taxed as a single person, you may be missing out. Joint assessment applies automatically once you tell Revenue you are married, no election needed, and it usually works out best where one spouse earns less than the other: the standard rate band can rise to €53,000 for a one-income couple, and most unused tax credits and rate band can be shared between you. If Revenue was never told about the marriage, you stay taxed as a single person indefinitely. Budget 2027 announced that the standard rate band cut-off for a married couple or civil partners with one income rises from €53,000 to €55,500. The Budget documents give no start date, so check Revenue for when it applies.

Tax relief if you are separated or divorced and pay maintenance to a former spouse or civil partner under a court order, deed of separation or other legally enforceable arrangement. For a former cohabitant, only payments under a court maintenance order count. Only the part paid for your former partner counts, never maintenance for your children. You must not be taxed as a married couple.

A former cohabitant counts after living together for 2 or more years if you have children together (5 or more years if not). Payments must be periodic and paid in full, with nothing deducted. You can also claim back PRSI on them.

Claim in myAccount under Maintenance Payments Made, for this year or the previous 4 years. Self-assessed people claim on Form 11.

If you pay for a carer for yourself or a relative who is totally incapacitated by physical or mental illness, you can claim income tax relief on the cost at your highest (marginal) rate, up to 40%. The relief is the lower of what you actually pay or €75,000 a year for each incapacitated person. Where more than one person shares the cost, the €75,000 is split between them.

€38 a week through the fuel season, 28 September 2026 to 9 April 2027. At 66 or over you do not need a qualifying welfare payment if your income is up to €534 a week (€1,068 for a couple). Under 66 you do. On some payments a means test applies too. The rate rises to €43 from January 2027.

Help with an essential cost you cannot pay from your income or savings, such as repairs, appliances, a rent deposit, funeral costs or heating bills. There is no set rate. You may qualify on a social welfare payment or a low wage.

Automatic pension enrolment for workers aged 23 to 60 earning over €20,000 who have no workplace pension. You put in 1.5% of pay, your employer matches it and the State adds 0.5%, rising over 10 years.

A weekly pension of up to €299.30 for people aged 66 or over, based on social insurance (PRSI) contributions. It is not means tested. You usually need at least 520 full-rate contributions. A shorter record may get a reduced rate. The €299.30 rate rises by €10 from January 2027.

A means-tested weekly pension from age 66 for people who do not qualify for the contributory pension. A higher rate applies from age 80.

A weekly payment for people who retire at 65, to bridge the gap until the State Pension starts at 66. Based on your PRSI record.

Help with your energy bill, €1.15 a day paid into your bank or post office, plus a free TV licence. Everyone aged 70 or over qualifies whatever their income. Younger people can qualify on certain payments or, from 66, on a means test.

Free travel on bus, rail, Local Link and Luas for everyone aged 66 or over who lives permanently in Ireland. Some people under 66 on certain disability or carer payments may qualify too. You need a valid, in-date Free Travel Public Services Card.

An extra weekly payment for people who live completely alone and get certain social welfare payments. Worth €22 a week.

If your income is low you can put off paying your Local Property Tax rather than going without to pay it. FULL deferral if your gross income is €25,000 or less as a single person or widow, or €40,000 or less as a couple. PARTIAL deferral, meaning you defer half the bill, up to €40,000 single or €55,000 as a couple. These thresholds run for the 2026 to 2030 valuation period. THE CATCH: it is a postponement, not a write off. Interest builds at 3% a year, down from 4% before January 2022, and the deferred tax plus interest has to be cleared before you can sell or transfer the property. Revenue will not give clearance for a sale while any of it is still deferred. You claim it on your LPT return.

An extra €20 a week added to qualifying pensions and payments for people living on the specified offshore islands, a rate unchanged since January 2021. You do not fill in a separate form, it comes automatically with the qualifying payment. If you have moved to an island and it has not appeared, that is worth a phone call. Budget 2027: the weekly increase rises from €20 to €25 in 2027.

If you took time out of paid work to raise your children or to care for someone, these schemes can fill the gaps in your PRSI record so you qualify for a higher State Pension (Contributory). HomeCaring Periods cover time spent caring at home, including children under 12, up to the equivalent of 20 years. Long-Term Carers' Contributions credit each week you gave full-time care once you reach 20 years of caring. You can use both together for periods that do not overlap. There is a separate application and it is easy to miss. The Pension Caring Supports application covers all three of Long-Term Carers Contributions, HomeCaring Periods and the Homemaker's Scheme. You are assessed for whichever fit your circumstances. Apply on MyWelfare.ie with a verified MyGovID, or ask for the paper form by email at pensioncaringsupports@welfare.ie. The Pension Caring Supports team is on 01 471 5898 or 0818 690 690. The Homemaker's Scheme is the one people miss most: it disregards up to 20 years spent raising children under 12 since 6 April 1994, and it works on the yearly average method rather than the total contributions approach, so it can help someone the other two do not.

If you are taking a career break, a year out, or otherwise stepping away from paid work and not claiming a welfare payment, you can pay voluntary PRSI contributions to protect your State Pension (Contributory) record while you are not earning. You need at least 520 paid PRSI contributions already on your record (10 years) and must apply within 5 years of the tax year you last worked or paid PRSI. It only protects long-term benefits like the pension, not short-term ones like Illness Benefit or Jobseeker's Benefit, and it is different from signing on for credits, which needs you to be unemployed and genuinely looking for work.

An extra €2.50 a week, about €130 a year, for people who get BOTH the Living Alone Increase and the Fuel Allowance. Paid automatically if you qualify, to help with phone or home-alarm costs.

An extra tax credit if you or your spouse are 65 or over: €245 for a single person, €490 for a couple. Claim it through Revenue myAccount.

If you or your spouse are 65 or over, you may pay no income tax at all if your total income is under €18,000 (single, widowed or a surviving civil partner) or €36,000 (married or in a civil partnership), plus €575 for each of your first two dependent children and €830 for each one after that. If your income is just over the limit, marginal relief can still reduce what you owe. Separate from the Age Tax Credit above, and covers income tax only, not PRSI or USC.

If your income is €60,000 or less and you are aged 70 or over, or hold a full medical card, you pay a reduced Universal Social Charge: 0.5% on the first €12,012 and 2% on the rest, well below the standard top rate. If you hold a full medical card (not a GP visit card) and your income is €60,000 or less, you need to contact Revenue to get the reduced rate. Payments from the Department of Social Protection are exempt from USC.

A €305 yearly tax credit if you maintain a relative who cannot look after themselves, or an elderly parent. The relative's income must be under €18,548.

A 100% Christmas Bonus is to be paid in December 2026 to long-term social welfare recipients, almost 1.4 million people. The official material mentions no application. Qualifying payments include the State Pension (Contributory and Non-contributory), Carer's Allowance, Carer's Benefit, Disability Allowance, Invalidity Pension, Blind Pension, One-Parent Family Payment, Farm Assist, Domiciliary Care Allowance and Guardian's Payment. For Back to Education Allowance, Daily Expenses Allowance, Illness Benefit, Jobseeker's Allowance and the Work Placement Experience Programme you need 12 months on the payment or scheme. Citizens Information says it will be paid in the week starting 7 December 2026. The Department's Budget pages give no euro figure.

A jobseeker's payment linked to what you used to earn, up to €450 a week at first, for people who became unemployed on or after 31 March 2025. The amount and how long it lasts depend on your PRSI record.

€254 a week plus a payment for each child, for lone parents whose youngest child is aged 7 to 13, after One-Parent Family Payment ends. You can work part-time and still get it, subject to a means test. The first €165 of weekly earnings is not counted.

If you stop working part way through the year, you may be due a refund of Income Tax and USC. You claim it yourself in myAccount or on Form P50, from four weeks after you become unemployed if you have no other taxable income.

Emergency help from the Community Welfare Service when severe weather like flooding or a storm hits your home, formerly the Humanitarian Assistance Scheme. It runs in three stages: stage one covers immediate needs like food, clothing and bedding with no income test at all, while stages two and three cover essential household contents and structural repairs and are income tested. It is worth asking about even if you assume you earn too much.

It does not cover damage or losses that are insured or would reasonably be expected to be insured. It does not cover structural loss or interior fixtures in private rented accommodation or in homes owned or leased by a council or an approved housing body. It does not cover commercial, agricultural or business losses. It covers your primary residence only.

Stage 1 applications close 7 calendar days after the end of the event. After that you can apply for an Additional Needs Payment. Stage 2 applications close 3 months after the event and stage 3 applications close 6 months after the event. Applications for structural repair must be made by the registered owner of the property.

The income limit is €50,000 for a single person and €90,000 for a couple or a one-parent household. It rises by €15,000 for each qualified child. There is no income limit at stage 1. For each whole €1,000 above the limit you make a 1% contribution. If you had no insurance and have no good reason you contribute the first €2,000 and 2% for each whole €1,000 above the limit. 20% of a non-dependent adult's gross income is added to the household income.

If you have been out of work a long time and take a part-time job of under 24 hours a week, you can swap Jobseeker's Allowance for a flat weekly allowance instead, €160.90 if you are single or €262.40 with an increase for a qualified adult in 2026. The allowance is not taxable, and you keep looking for full-time work while you are on it.

Part-time community work of 19.5 hours a week for people who have been out of work a long time, built to rebuild experience and routine on the way back to a job. New participants get at least €286.50 a week since January 2026 and you keep your secondary benefits, which is the part people worry about most before applying. Budget 2027 announced that the weekly top-up rises from €32.50 to €35.

Close to Community Employment, Tús is a 12-month community work placement of 19.5 hours a week run through local implementing bodies, paying at least €286.50 a week since January 2026. You normally need 12 months on a jobseeker's payment first, though some groups, such as people getting Disability Allowance, can join without that wait. Budget 2027 announced that the weekly top-up rises from €32.50 to €35. It also announced that the requalification period for Tús will be cut from 3 years to 2 years, with no start date given.

A six-month work-experience placement of 30 hours a week with an employer, paid at a flat €369 a week plus any increases for a qualified adult or children, with your secondary benefits kept. You need four months out of work if you are under 30 or six months if you are over 30, and people on One-Parent Family Payment, Disability Allowance or Blind Pension qualify straight away with no waiting period. Budget 2027: the weekly training uplift rises from €115 to €140 from January 2027.

A free An Post service that takes a fixed amount out of certain weekly welfare payments and sends it straight to your bills, things like local authority rent, ESB, gas or phone. Deductions are capped at 25% of the weekly payment, so it cannot swallow the lot. It is a way of spreading bills rather than extra money coming in.

A means-tested weekly payment, up to €254, if you are unemployed and looking for work and do not qualify for Jobseeker's Benefit. Budget 2027: the maximum personal weekly rate rises from €254 to €264 from January 2027.

A weekly payment, up to €254, if you become unemployed and have enough PRSI contributions. If you are fully unemployed and your last day of work was on or after 28 March 2025, Jobseeker's Pay-Related Benefit replaces it, worth up to 60% of your previous earnings. Jobseeker's Benefit still covers part-time, casual, short-time and seasonal workers, retained firefighters and people whose work follows the school or academic year. Budget 2027: the maximum personal weekly rate rises from €254 to €264 from January 2027.

A basic safety-net payment if you have little or no income, including while you wait for another welfare claim to be processed. Around €252 a week for a person aged 25 or over. Budget 2027: from January 2027 the weekly rate for a person aged 25 or over rises by €10, to €262.

If you are made redundant, let go or retire, part of a severance or termination lump sum from your employer may be tax free: €10,160 plus €765 for each full year you worked there. A lump sum paid under the terms of your contract is taxed in full, as is pay in lieu of notice your contract provides for. Statutory redundancy pay is tax free in full on top of this. Only the extra your employer pays counts against these limits.

You may get €10,000 more if you have not had more than the basic exemption tax free in the last 10 years and you are either not in a work pension scheme or give up its tax-free lump sum. A pension lump sum over €10,000 rules this out and a smaller one is taken off it.

Or use SCSB: one fifteenth of your average yearly pay over your last 36 months, times full years of service, minus pension lump sums. Lifetime cap €200,000.

Up to €237 a week for anyone bringing up a child who is not their own, including grandparents and other relatives. It is not only for orphans: it can also apply where the parents are unknown or have abandoned the child. You do not need to be the legal guardian.

€850 towards a funeral where someone died from a work accident, an accident on the direct journey to or from work, or an occupational disease. It sits under the Occupational Injuries scheme, which means only one week of PRSI needs to have been paid, a far lower bar than most PRSI-based payments.

Where a death came from a work accident or an occupational disease, or the person was on a disablement pension of 50% or more, the family might qualify for a Bereaved Partner's Pension, an Orphan's Pension and a Funeral Grant. Cohabitants were brought into the partner's pension in July 2025. These are separate from the standard bereaved partner pensions, so it is worth checking which route leaves you better off. Budget 2027: from January 2027 the maximum Death Benefit weekly rates are €294.50 under 66, €313.70 from 66 to under 80 and €323.70 at 80 or over.

You can inherit the house you live in completely free of inheritance tax if it was your main home for the 3 years before, you own no other property, and you keep living there for 6 years after. Sell within those 6 years without replacing it and the tax is clawed back. Unlike an inheritance, a gift of a house only qualifies if you are a dependent relative. Claimed on the IT38 return.

A once-off €8,000 payment for a widow, widower, surviving civil partner or surviving cohabitant with dependent children. Formerly the Widowed or Surviving Civil Partner Grant.

A weekly pension for a widow, widower, surviving civil partner or qualified cohabitant, based on PRSI contributions and not means-tested. Up to €299.30 a week at 66 or over. Formerly the Widow's, Widower's or Surviving Civil Partner's Contributory Pension. Budget 2027: from January 2027 the maximum weekly rates are €269.50 under 66, €309.30 from 66 to under 80 and €319.30 at 80 or over.

A means-tested weekly pension for a bereaved partner who does not qualify on PRSI contributions. Budget 2027: the maximum weekly rate rises from €254 to €264 from January 2027.

An extra income tax credit for a widowed parent or surviving civil partner with a dependent child, on top of the normal Single Person Tax Credit, for 5 years after bereavement: €3,600 in year one, €3,150 in year two, €2,700 in year three, €2,250 in year four, €1,800 in year five, then nil. One credit only, no matter how many children you have. Claimed through Revenue myAccount.

Covers essential travel costs for people leaving a violent home, including fuel for your own car if you are driving yourself. There is no means test for the first three months and it can be extended for another three months with one. There is no set rate, it is worked out from what you need.

Every employee has the right to up to 5 days of fully paid domestic violence leave in any 12-month period, paid at your normal rate. It is time off to deal with the effects of domestic violence, whether that is for yourself or for a close family member: to find somewhere safe to stay, get medical help, go to court, see a solicitor or the Gardaí, or sort out counselling or supports. It has been law since 27 November 2023. You do not have to give evidence to your employer, and it is separate from sick leave or annual leave.

State compensation if you were personally injured as a result of a violent crime or hurt while preventing a crime or saving someone's life. It covers your vouched out-of-pocket expenses (medical, dental, prescriptions, glasses, travel for treatment) and lost earnings. Since the amended Scheme was published on 27 July 2026 it also covers pain and suffering. You must have reported the incident to the Gardaí (or to Fiosrú where a Garda is alleged to have carried out the crime). Apply as soon as possible and no later than 3 months from the date of the event. After that the Tribunal can generally accept a late application only in exceptional circumstances and up to 2 years after the incident. No application fee, but legal costs are not reimbursed even if you use a solicitor. Apply to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal at the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration or email criminalinjuries@justice.ie. It does not pay compensation for stolen or damaged property. The amount awarded must be within guidance issued by the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration. There are transitional arrangements for earlier applications and for late applications, so check the official page.

A Government payment for anyone who spent time as a mother or a child in one of 44 listed Mother and Baby or County Home institutions. From €5,000 up to €125,000, plus health supports. It is still open and you need no records.

EU-backed funding for rural businesses and community groups, through your Local Action Group. You must fund your own matching share and keep the project running for five years. Rural means everywhere outside the boundaries of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford and Galway.

Funding for small-scale infrastructure and supports in designated disadvantaged rural areas, run each year under a set of measures.

Improves a private lane or back road serving homes or farms, including a road used to harvest turf or seaweed. The council covers most of the cost and the people on the road pay a small share. Apply through your local authority.

Once-off grants for community, voluntary and statutory organisations that run parent peer support, where parents or people in a parenting role support each other, such as groups for parents of children with additional needs or an illness. €2,500 to run or start a project or €5,000 to scale up an existing one that is already helping parents. Only organisations can apply and each can apply for one tier only. The organisation needs its own legal identity, separate from its members. It does not fund capital costs, equipment or travel, while venue hire and facilitator fees are covered. Apply by email by Monday 2 November 2026.

Established in 1980, Údarás na Gaeltachta is the regional authority responsible for the economic, social and cultural development of the Gaeltacht, and it funds businesses there the way Enterprise Ireland and the Local Enterprise Offices do everywhere else. If your business is in the Gaeltacht areas of Donegal, Mayo, Galway, Kerry, Cork, Waterford or Meath, this is your agency and most people do not know it exists. The grants include a capital grant towards setting up, extending or diversifying a business, or a fundamental change to how it produces; a feasibility study grant, open to groups, organisations, businesses or individuals, to test whether a business idea is viable; a research and development grant towards new products, processes and services; and employment, key manager and training grants for taking people on. There is also the Technical Assistance for Micro-Exporters grant, worth 50% of eligible costs up to €2,500, for a business with no more than ten employees in manufacturing or internationally traded services that wants to sell abroad, covering trade fairs, export marketing material, an export website and translation. Údarás also runs the gteic network of digital hubs, a mentor programme, a rental subsidy, a first stage development grant, the GradStart initiative and the Grow Digital Voucher. Its pilot Gaeltacht Tourism support scheme is worth up to €50,000 at a rate of 50% or 75% out of a €350,000 fund, and the deadline Údarás gives for applying is 30 June 2026, which has passed, so ask them directly whether a further round is planned. An Employment Grant is paid in two halves, one when the job starts and the balance once the job has been in place for six months. Údarás also runs Green Start, Green Plus and a Climate Action Voucher, Lean and IP supports, and a pre-seed fund. All of it is subject to the de minimis limit of €200,000 over any three fiscal years, or €100,000 for road transport. For the export grant you must apply before you spend anything, and no other funding can have been received for the same proposal.

A training grant for tradespeople and professionals in the Gaeltacht who want to move into renewable energy or energy conservation work. It is aimed squarely at electricians, plumbers, engineers, architects, builders and roofers, because that is where the demand is: offshore wind, solar panels, electric boilers and heat pumps. It pays €2,000 at a rate of 75% towards course fees, and travel costs where they are needed, for recognised courses. Applications for this scheme are closed, so check the Údarás page for any new round. Two conditions catch people. The course must be part time, because no grant is paid for a full time course. The business must also be in the Gaeltacht. Also spelled Glasoiliuint. The total fund is €50,000, so it is a small scheme. The grant is paid under the de minimis state aid rules. Courses must be recognised ones focused on career development, improving your skills or learning new ones.

Pays a Gaeltacht household €14.50 a night for every Irish language student it puts up, which works out at about €304.50 per student for a three week course. A house taking 16 students across three courses earns a few thousand euro over a summer. More than 500 families do it and it is worth around €6 million a year. New host families can also claim a one off start up grant of up to €6,000, or 80% of eligible costs, towards fire safety equipment and certain furniture. The condition that catches people is recognition. You must be recognised by the Department before you take a single student, which means an application, Garda vetting through CONCOS, a registration visit and an engineer's certificate. Applications after 1 May are not processed until September, so start a year out, and do not adapt the house until the written recognition arrives.

Investment to bring life back to rural towns and villages, applied for by your local authority on behalf of the community. The 2026 call launched on 16 September 2026 and councils must submit applications by 22 January 2027, so bring your idea to the council now.

Small capital grants for community groups and facilities, run locally by your Local Community Development Committee (LCDC). It replaced the Community Enhancement Programme in 2024.

Funds walking trails, greenways, blueways and other outdoor amenities in the countryside, in tiers from €40,000 up to €500,000. Applied for by your local authority, a local development company or a state body, so community groups bring the project to them.

Capital grants of €10,000 to €100,000 to upgrade, refurbish and improve existing community centres.

Capital grants for sports clubs and community groups. For 2026: local grants up to €250,000, larger regional projects (for example two or more clubs sharing a facility) up to €550,000 and equipment up to €70,000. Applications open 19 October 2026 and close 26 February 2027.

€18,000 to €40,000 a year for elite athletes competing at European, World, Olympic or Paralympic level, nominated by their national governing body. There is no general grant for club or amateur athletes.

Every county has a Public Participation Network. Community, voluntary and environmental groups join free to hear about local funding and have a say in council decisions. It is not a grant itself.

Yearly funding for registered animal welfare charities in Ireland, covering the day-to-day cost of animal rescue, rehoming, veterinary care and public education. It runs annually, usually opening for applications in spring; the 2026 round has already closed, so watch for the next call.

€800 to €25,000 for community and voluntary groups to care for, record or share local heritage, from conservation works to oral history. The 2027 round is open for Expressions of Interest until 5.00pm on 16 October 2026. Full applications are by invitation.

Co-funds salary costs for community-based social enterprises delivering local services, including a contribution toward manager posts. Administered by Pobal on behalf of the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht. The programme is currently not open for new applications. The 2026 call launched on 30 March and preliminary applications closed on 8 May. The programme has three sub-programmes: Spaces and Services; Supporting Individuals; Innovation and Growth. Budget 2027 adds €5 million for the programme in 2027, including room for new organisations to join. Check the official page for any new call.

Free help for people who are furthest from work, education and services, and free support for local community groups, networks and social enterprises. SICAP is delivered in every county by local development companies and it is managed by your Local Community Development Committee (LCDC). The people it is aimed at are named by the Department: anyone long-term unemployed, people in jobless households or on low paid and insecure work, lone parents, disabled people, Travellers, Roma, refugees and International Protection applicants, people with a criminal history, island residents and anyone held back by educational disadvantage. On the individual side it helps people get back into education or lifelong learning, move into a job or self-employment, and build confidence and wellbeing. On the community side it helps groups and social enterprises tackle needs in their own area. The current programme started on 1 January 2024 and runs to the end of 2028, replacing SICAP 2018 to 2023. Each Local Community Development Committee agrees annual targets for its own area and can add a local priority group, so the focus varies a little by county. Pobal manages and oversees delivery nationally on behalf of the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht. The Department publishes a list of every Local Community Development Committee if you do not know which one covers you.

Grants for community and voluntary groups, charities, schools, faith and cultural organisations running projects that help migrants and their new communities settle and integrate. The 2026 fund is €4.5 million across three strands: €100,000 to €300,000 over up to three years, €15,000 to €100,000 for a year, and €1,000 to €10,000 for smaller projects. The 2026 round closed at noon on 2 September 2026.

A full guide to moving back to Ireland, covering residency, social welfare, healthcare, housing, schools and bringing your family.

Helps older Irish-born emigrants living in rented accommodation abroad apply for social housing in their home area when they return.

Free, confidential information and advocacy for Irish emigrants returning home, on accessing services, welfare and bringing family back.

Bring your car home and register it without paying Vehicle Registration Tax, if you lived abroad and owned and used the car for at least six months before moving back, and bring it in within 12 months.

Moving back from outside the EU, your household belongings and personal vehicles can come in free of customs duty and VAT, once you owned and used them for at least six months before the move.

In the year you move back, the employment income you earned abroad before you arrived is not taxed in Ireland, but you still get the full year's tax credits.

€20,180 a year for members of Aosdána, an affiliation of established Irish artists. You cannot apply to join: membership is by peer nomination and election only.

There are four separate bursaries: the general Bursary Award, the Traditional Arts Bursary Award, the Visual Arts Bursary Award and the Children and Young People's Arts Bursary Award. They all open on 10 November 2026 and close at 5.30pm on 17 December 2026. Each is worth up to €20,000. Apply to the one that matches your artform. Time and funding for an individual artist, musicians included, to research and develop their practice. Individuals only, not bands; normally resident in the Republic of Ireland.

Funding for artists with disabilities to develop their practice, administered by Arts & Disability Ireland on behalf of the Arts Council. Four strands: New Work (up to €15,000), a research strand (up to €5,000), Mentoring (up to €3,000) and Training (up to €1,000). Round 2 opened on 10 August 2026 and closed at 4pm on 29 September 2026. Check the Arts Council page for the next round.

Smaller, flexible support for an individual artist to develop their work or skills. Individuals only, not bands or groups. You must be resident in the Republic of Ireland, with limited exceptions. The 2026 round opened on 3 March and closed at 5.30pm on 23 April 2026. Check the Arts Council page for the next round. It is for individual professional artists and arts practitioners who have not been funded as an individual by the Arts Council since 1 January 2016. You cannot apply for both an Agility Award and a Bursary Award in the same calendar year.

Funds a specific music project, from live performance to recording. Open to individual artists, groups and organisations based in Ireland. Rounds open a few times a year; the July 2026 round has closed, so check the Arts Council site for the next call.

Funds commissioning a musician or composer to create new music or opera, or a festival commission. Music up to €17,000, opera up to €45,000.

Funds recording or publishing work in the traditional arts. Open to individuals, groups, bands and organisations.

Funds touring existing work across Ireland to reach more people. For individual artists and organisations based here; the grant is based on the shortfall.

Funding for an artist to make work WITH a community rather than for an audience. Open to both individual artists and organisations, which is unusual for an Arts Council award. Managed by Create, the national development agency for collaborative arts, on behalf of the Arts Council. Round 2 closed at 5pm on Monday 28 September 2026. There are four award types: research and development with or without mentoring, a recent graduate award with mentoring, and project realisation.

Paid residencies and fellowships for professional writers, film artists and traditional artists, based in a university for a year. The seven writer posts for 2027 (Dublin City University including an Irish-language post, Maynooth, University of Galway, University College Cork, University College Dublin and a Writer Fellow at Trinity College Dublin) and the Traditional Artist in Residence post at University College Cork closed at 5.30pm on 1 October 2026. Two University College Cork posts are open now, each up to €30,000: the Irish-language Writer in Residence (applications 1 to 30 October 2026) and the Film Artist in Residence (22 September to 22 October 2026).

Pays a writer, poet, illustrator or storyteller to visit a school and work with the pupils. The school pays €100 and the scheme funds the balance plus travel expenses, up to €250 a visit. Funded by the Arts Council and run by Poetry Ireland. Open until 31 December 2026, so a teacher can arrange it during the school year rather than waiting for a round.

Ireland's national music education programme for children and young people. Subsidised performance music tuition across many instruments and styles, run locally through Music Education Partnerships. What is on offer and what it costs depend on your area.

€3,000 to €20,000, at 90% of costs, for grassroots live music venues with a capacity of 500 or less that pay commercial rates. The 2026 round closed on 30 March. Expect the next one around March.

Up to 95% of the cost of making a TV or radio programme, for broadcasters and independent producers. You generally need a letter from a broadcaster agreeing to air it. Round 62 is expected to open in October.

A corporation tax credit of 32% (40% in some cases) for making a film, TV drama, animation or documentary in Ireland. For producer companies only, not individuals. You need a cultural certificate before production starts.

Lets 1% of the cost of a publicly funded building project go on commissioning art. The cap runs from €50,000 on projects under €5 million to up to €500,000 on the largest. There is no central fund to apply to. Councils, other public bodies and the OPW commission artists.

A €6 million pilot fund of capital grants for not-for-profit arts and culture organisations, such as arts centres, and for multi-use centres that provide or are developing dedicated arts and culture facilities, to buy equipment or do building works, including climate action, health and safety and universal access upgrades. Three categories: equipment up to €100,000, construction up to €200,000 and equipment up to €15,000 for community and voluntary groups to get more people involved in the arts. The grant rate is 95% (70% for facilities owned by a local authority in the first two categories). You apply for one category only. Open from 1 October to 18 December 2026.

Self-employed professional artists on Jobseeker's Allowance can be excused from the usual labour-market activation for their first year out of work, so that year goes into developing their practice instead. You need at least half of the previous year's income to have come from your art plus a certificate from one of the listed professional bodies. It covers visual arts, theatre, literature, music, dance, opera, film and circus.

Income of up to €50,000 a year from original creative work, books, plays, musical compositions, paintings and sculptures, can be exempt from income tax if Revenue determines the work has cultural or artistic merit. It is a determination you apply for, not something automatic. Worth knowing that USC and PRSI are still due on the money.

Grants toward musical instruments, covering up to 75% of the cost. Separate strands for amateur groups, professional musicians and venues. You must be based or resident in Ireland.

Helps Irish professional artists and musicians present work abroad, covering travel, freight and accommodation. For performing outside Ireland, not into it; you need a confirmed international presenter. There are four grant rounds a year and applications are NOT accepted outside them. The next deadline is 23:59 on 5 November 2026, for work presented internationally from 15 February 2027 onwards.

A weekly payment of €325 for professional artists and creative arts workers, now a permanent scheme after the 2022 pilot. It runs in three-year cycles for 2,000 recipients, chosen by random selection from eligible applicants. Applications for the 2026 to 2029 round opened in April 2026 and have since closed, so this round is full. Watch for the next application window.

Showcase slots and travel support for Irish acts playing major international music festivals. You need an invitation from the festival first.

Development and production funding for film, TV drama, animation and documentary. Mainly for Irish-registered production companies.

Your county or city council's arts office runs its own grants, bursaries and awards for local artists. Amounts and deadlines vary; you usually need to live in the area.

Creative Ireland money for community creative projects does not come from a national application. Every one of the 31 local authorities has a Culture and Creativity Team with a named Creative Ireland Co-ordinator, and the councils run their own small open calls from that funding, typically €500 to €5,000 a project, usually opening early in the year. Any community group can apply to those, as long as the project is led or facilitated by a professional practitioner. Nothing is open nationally at the moment.

A credit of 20% of your rent, up to €1,000 a year (€2,000 for a jointly assessed couple) for 2024 to 2026. Announced for 2027 and 2028: €1,150 (€2,300). You need Income Tax to offset it. You cannot claim it if you get HAP, Rent Supplement or RAS or if your landlord is a housing association.

Your council pays your private landlord the rent each month, up to a limit for your area and household size. You pay a weekly contribution based on your income. You must first be approved for social housing support. You can work full time and still get HAP.

If you are homeless or at risk of homelessness right now, your local authority can assess your needs and, where possible, provide emergency accommodation, including family hubs for families with children. Contact your local authority's housing or homeless section directly.

If you have been on Rent Supplement for 18 months or more the council sources longer-term rented housing for you and you pay a rent based on your income. The big difference from Rent Supplement is that you can take a full-time job and stay on RAS, with your rent simply recalculated.

If you rent privately with HAP or RAS and your landlord is selling up, your council can buy the home and keep you in it as their tenant. You need a valid notice of termination given because the landlord plans to sell, a risk of homelessness, an RTB-registered tenancy and the property in the social housing support system for two years or more. This is the HAP and RAS route, separate from the Cost Rental Tenant in Situ Scheme for renters on neither payment.

Launched in June 2026 across the four Dublin councils for owners of vacant or newly built properties: the council pays you a guaranteed monthly rent directly, at up to 100% of market rent, on contracts of up to 8 years while the home houses social housing tenants, and the rent keeps coming even during vacancy periods. Dublin City Council leads it.

Individual landlords renting out residential property might qualify for relief worth up to €1,000 in 2026 and 2027, up from €600 in 2024 and €800 in 2025. It is capped at 20% of your rental income, and there is a clawback: sell up or stop letting within 4 years of your first claim and Revenue takes it back.

If you are doing up a property that has sat empty for 6 months or more, you can deduct up to €10,000 per premises of the costs of getting it ready, repairs, advertising and the like, against your rental income. The scheme runs to the end of 2027. Same catch as the other landlord reliefs: stop letting within 4 years and it is clawed back.

Landlords who get an approved SEAI retrofitting grant can also deduct up to €10,000 per premises against rental income, so you get the grant and a tax deduction on what you spent yourself. It covers works from 2023 to 2028, and from 2026 you can claim it on up to 3 properties, up from 2. The deduction is your spend net of the grant.

Short-term help with private rent if a drop in income means you can no longer afford it. Mostly for short-term cases now; longer-term renters are pointed to HAP. There is also a fast-track route for anyone leaving domestic abuse: if you are referred by Tusla, a Tusla-funded service, the Gardaí or the HSE, you can get Rent Supplement straight away with no means test for the first 3 months (extendable to 6), so money is not the reason you cannot leave. After 6 months you can apply to your local authority for longer-term help like HAP.

If you rent out a room in your own home, you can earn up to €14,000 a year tax-free. The limit includes any money for food, laundry or utilities. From 1 January 2027 the limit is due to rise to €16,000.

The €14,000 is the gross amount you receive for the room, before expenses. Within it you pay no income tax, PRSI or USC on that income. Go over it and the total amount is taxed, not just the part above €14,000.

Budget 2027 announced that the ceiling rises from €14,000 to €16,000 from 1 January 2027, as a single ceiling of €16,000 per taxpayer unit across all Rent a Room income. It also announced that the relief extends to detached auxiliary homes in back gardens, between 32 and 45 square metres, that meet the 2026 planning exemption criteria (exempted dwellings under S.I. 340 of 2026) and are built from 27 July 2026. Citizens Information says this applies retrospectively from 27 July 2026.

A tax-free monthly payment for hosting people from Ukraine with Temporary Protection in your home or a property you own, for 6 months or more, with no rental agreement in place. €400 a month per property from September 2026, down from the €600 that had applied since June 2025. The scheme has been extended to 31 March 2027. Since 3 March 2026 new applications are not accepted for properties that were registered with the RTB at any time since 4 March 2022. The payment is ignored for most means tests, including Fuel Allowance and the Living Alone Increase.

A tax credit of €1,270 a year for a fisher, employed or self-employed, who spends at least 80 days at sea in the tax year on an EU or UK registered fishing vessel. Claimed through Revenue myAccount.

A tax credit of €1,500 a year for permanent members of the Irish Naval Service who spent at least 80 days at sea on an Irish naval vessel in the year before the year they are claiming for. It is €1,500 a year for 2021 to 2029 and you get it automatically if you qualify.

An income tax allowance of €6,350 a year for seafarers who work at least 161 days at sea on a qualifying international voyage in the tax year, set against the employment income earned on board.

If your job is on Revenue's list, such as nurse, teacher, electrician or shop assistant, you can deduct a set amount each year for things like uniforms and tools. Claim in myAccount with no receipts. You can go back four years too.

Lets your employer give you up to €1,500 a year in non-cash benefits (vouchers, gift cards) tax-free, across up to 5 individual benefits a year. This is an employer decision, not something you apply for yourself, but worth knowing about if you're negotiating pay or benefits.

Work from home? Claim tax relief on 30% of the heating, electricity and broadband costs for your work-from-home days. Or your employer can pay you €3.20 a day tax free instead.

Tax relief of up to €50,000 for employees who travel to work in certain qualifying countries for at least 30 days in a 12-month period. The Philippines and Turkiye were added from 2026.

If you live in Ireland but commute daily or weekly to a job in another country and pay tax there, this reduces your Irish tax so that in effect only your non-foreign income is taxed here. It is the classic relief for cross-border workers going north. One thing to watch: if you claim this, you cannot also claim a credit for the foreign tax you paid.