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You can now receive up to €14,000 per year for renting out a room in your own home without it affecting your social welfare payment. This does not apply to short-term lets (of less than 28 consecutive days). It also does not apply if you are renting to an immediate family member or someone you employ.
New EU regulations covering the enforcement of certain family court orders across the EU are now in place.
Ukrainian refugees in Ireland can now drive on their Ukrainian driving licences.
The Accommodation Recognition Payment (ARP) is now open for applications. This is a tax-free payment of €400 per month for people providing accommodation to refugees from Ukraine.
The Regularisation of Long-Term Undocumented Migrants Scheme closed on 31 July 2022. If you made an application, you will be contacted with a decision.
Training and Employment Childcare (TEC) programmes are closed to new applicants. You can apply for support under the National Childcare Scheme.
From 29 August 2022, the universal subsidy under the National Childcare Scheme will be extended to children aged up to 15.
Local authorities can increase a single person’s Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) rate to a couple’s rate if you can’t find accommodation within the HAP rent limits.
Visa free travel to Ireland is suspended for holders of refugee travel documents issued by 20 European countries.
If you applied for the School Transport Scheme 2022-2023, you can request your ticket using the online Bus Eireann Family Portal before Friday, 29 July 2022.
Ukrainian students applying for third-level must apply through the National Student and Researcher (NSR) online application system by midnight, 2 August 2022 and submit supporting documents by 8 August 2022.
The amount of means you can have for the Household Benefits Package is the current maximum rate of State Pension (Contributory) including any increases that you might get for your age, living alone and dependants, plus €120.
The new Contact Preference Register is open for applications on www.birthinfo.ie. This was set up as part of the Birth Information and Tracing Act 2022.
You can now get medical lenses once every 2 years under the Treatment Benefit Scheme.
Applications are open for the new Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant.
Owners of certain vacant properties no longer need to show they cannot access funding to be eligible for the Repair and Leasing Scheme.
Applications are now open for the new First Home Scheme.
An extra €100 Back to Work Clothing and Footwear Allowance will be paid this week to those who received their payment in the week commencing 11 July 2022.
The Sick Leave Bill has been passed by both houses of the Oireachtas.
Local authorities can now increase Housing Assistance Payment limits by up to 35%.
How rental income is assessed as means for the Fair Deal Scheme for nursing homes will change following the passing of new laws.
The Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance has increased by €100 per eligible child. The extra Allowance will be paid from the week commencing 18 July 2022.
The School Transport Scheme will be free of charge this year.
Some tenancy laws changed from 6 July:
The 6 year time limit for participation in the Rural Social Scheme has been removed.
Parent’s leave has been extended to 7 weeks for parents of children under 2 (or 2 years from the child’s placement date in the case of adoptive parents).
The Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance will be paid automatically in the week of 11 July 2022 to families who have been notified that they will get the automatic payment. If you have not received a letter notifying you of this and you want to apply for the payment, you must apply on MyWelfare.
The Birth Information and Tracing Act has been passed by the Oireachtas. This gives adopted people, and others, the right to access their birth certificate.
A new voucher scheme for remote working hubs is now in place. You can get 3 vouchers in the first phase of the scheme, which runs until the end of August 2022.
Preliminary results of Census 2022 show Ireland’s population has passed the 5 million mark.
A new ex-gratia scheme for CE supervisors is now available.
We’ve updated the CAO offer and deadline dates for 2022/23.
These pages have been reviewed and improved:
COVID-19 Enhanced Illness Benefit, which was due to finish at the end of June, has been extended to September 2022.
The amount of money you can earn during term-time before it affects your student grant will increase from €4500 per academic year to €6552 for 2022/2023.
A number of additional state subsidies and grants are now disregarded for the purpose of Farm Assist.
Taxi prices will increase by an average of 12% from September. Also from September, all taxis must provide cashless facilities.
In-person citizenship ceremonies have recommenced.
The Government announced that local authorities will have greater flexibility to go above the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) rent limits under proposed changes.
A new Green Transition Fund for businesses has been launched.
Hire Purchase agreements are now covered by the Consumer Protection Code, and providers must be authorised by the Central Bank.
These pages have been reviewed and improved:
Tenancies of unlimited duration are now in place for new tenancies starting after 10 June 2022. .
The re-entry visa requirement for children aged under 16 travelling to and from Ireland has been suspended.
The Ukraine Support Centre in Cork can now issue Temporary Protection letters for people coming to Ireland from Ukraine. International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) has also announced that applicants will not get any more offers of accommodation after 2 offers have been refused.
There will be a further reduction to the PSO Levy that will result in an ‘indicative’ annual saving of €75 on a typical household electricity bill. As the government had already announced a levy reduction of €52, this means household electricity bills will have a total ‘indicative’ annual saving of €127, beginning in October 2022. (Estimated savings excluding VAT.)
We added a new page on the Additional Needs Payment, part of the Supplementary Welfare Allowance Scheme. The payment can help people on a low income with expenses that they cannot afford. It includes the Exceptional Needs and Urgent Needs Payments.
The application form for Partial Capacity Benefit is now available to download from gov.ie.
The weekly income limit from employment and self-employment for Carer’s Benefit increased from €332.50 to €350.
The Additional Needs Payment is a new once-off payment from the Department of Social Protection to help with expenses that you cannot afford from your weekly income. This replaces the Exceptional Needs and Urgent Needs Payments.
The amount of savings and income you can have without it affecting your Carer’s Allowance has increased.
Details on how to defer your Leaving Cert exam are now available.
Read our improved redundancy section, including information on:
