Finance « Thurles Information

A Quick Glance At Today’s Budget.

Take A Quick Glance At Ireland’s Budget Details Announced Today.

Workers earning the national minimum wage will see an increase of 65 cent per hour, bringing the new rate to €14.15.
Motorists; Same will face higher fuel costs, with a 60-litre tank set to rise by €1.28 for petrol and €1.48 for diesel.
Smokers; The cost of a 20-pack of cigarettes will increase by 50 cent, bringing the average price to just under €19.
Social Welfare, Child benefit & Pensions; Core weekly social welfare payments, including the State pension, will rise by €10 per week. Child benefit; Same will increase by €8 per month for children under 12 and €16 for those aged 12 and over.
Fuel allowance: Eligibility for the fuel allowance will be expanded to include recipients of the Working Family Payment, and the weekly allowance itself will rise by €5.
Education & Grants; In education, college fees will be permanently reduced by €500, bringing the annual charge to €2,500—though this will represent an increase in real terms from the temporarily reduced rate of €2,000 in recent years. SUSI Grants; The income threshold for SUSI grants will rise by €5,000, to €120,000 per household. Capitation grants; Same will increase from €224 to €274 for primary and special schools, and from €386 to €406 at post-primary level. Special Needs Assistants; 1,717 new Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) will be appointed, bringing the total to almost 24,900, alongside 1,042 new teaching posts, including 860 for special education. Building Projects; A €1.6 billion capital investment will progress over 300 school building projects, delivering around 2,800 new places for special classes and schools.
Hospitality: The VAT rate on hospitality will be cut to 9% from July 2026, while the rate for completed apartments will drop from 13% to 9% until the end of 2030.
Renters; Renters will benefit from the extension of the tax credit for a further three years, remaining at €1,000 for individuals and €2,000 for couples. Mortgage interest relief will continue for two more years—€1,250 in 2025 and €625 in 2026.
Income Tax Bands; There are no major changes to income tax bands or credits, other than an increase in the USC 2% rate band to €28,700.
Public Transport; Reduced public transport fares will continue throughout 2026, and the 9% VAT rate on energy bills will be extended until the end of 2028.
Defence; The Defence budget will rise by 11%, funding 50 new civilian roles, 70 additional civil servants for areas such as cybersecurity, and new body armour and ammunition stock replenishment.
Health; The Health budget will increase to €27.3 billion, up €1.5 billion on this year, including 300 new mental health staff.
Law Enforcement; Up to 1,000 new Garda recruits will be deployed in 2026, with further investment in immigration processing, youth diversion, and domestic violence prevention programmes.
National Broadband Plan; A further €433 million will go towards the National Broadband Plan, while €357 million will be provided for broadcasting, including €65.4 million for TG4.
Renewable energy; Households generating renewable energy will benefit from an extension of the €400 income tax disregard for microgeneration earnings until 2028.
Sport; €3 million will be provided to establish League of Ireland youth academies, and the GAA will receive €1.6 million in funding for inter-county players.
Music; From Budget 2026, income tax relief for makers of uilleann pipes and Irish harps will be extended to 2028.

GDP – Gross Domestic Push: Tipperary’s Economic Trolley Indicator.

Mikey Ryan discusses the new Trolley Tax and the Great Thurles Trolley Crisis.
Cartastrophe: How We Are Wheeling Up Food Prices.
Cart-Flation: How Abandoned Shopping Trolleys Are Undermining Tipperary’s Economy.
Are Abandoned Trolleys Driving Up the Cost of Your Roast Beef?

I swear all I said to Mikey Ryan was that Seamus Hanafin’s Walkway, has once again returned to being an unkempt dump, strewn with Supermarket Trolleys and after all the public money wasted, it is like the River Suir, no longer maintained by Thurles Municipal District. But my statement was enough to get local man Mikey Ryan ‘Riled Up’.

**The** **‘Great Trolley Tax’**.
*Pic G. Willoughby*.

“Economists, retailers, and the good people of Thurles may all be missing the obvious culprit behind Ireland’s stubbornly high food prices, the malefactor being those feckin humble shopping trolleys”, declared Mikey Ryan.

We were above in the Arch Bar, Liberty Square, last night, supping a few pints, when Mikey Ryan announced to all and sundry that he really should have applied to local councillors to support him for the position of President of Ireland; the election due to take place on October 24th, 2025.

“Sure I would get through the Presidential election nomination process without any bother, through reinventing the global climate agenda by simply expanding planetary consciousness regarding shopping trolleys”, said Mikey confidently.

“On paper”, inflation is blamed on everything from energy costs to global supply chains. But take a closer look at our rivers, hedgerows, and half-finished Liberty Square, and you’ll spot the real drain on our wallets; it’s supermarket trolleys gone rogue”, stated Mikey, who now had the ear of everyone present.

“A single 100-litre trolley, supplied by ROLLCAGE, costs €287.20. Add VAT and it rolls out at €353.26. There were twelve such trolleys in the immediate vicinity; six of which, up until yesterday, were enjoying a leisurely soak in the River Suir and another six still gathering moss along the route of the still-mythical Thurles Inner Relief Road”.

Mikey paused to wet his whistle, before announcing that the cost of same 12 trolleys came to €4,239.12 in missing hardware.

“That’s not just metal and wheels, folks. That’s the equivalent of: 2,400 loaves of bread (pre-inflation). 1,500 litres of milk (assuming the cows agree to cooperate), or, given the latest CSO figures, perhaps just two bags of shopping if you’re fond of butter, beef, and chocolate.” he continued.

“The CSO yesterday tells us food inflation reached 5.1% in August. Butter is up 18.3%, Beef 22.7%, Milk 12.4%, Chocolate 16.3%, Coffee 12.1%. Coincidence? Is every percentage point tied to a trolley floating belly-up in the Suir and other rivers around our emerald isle?”

Mickey stopped again to gulp down another mouthful.

In a room where you could hear a pin drop, Mikey continued,
“For one minute, let’s consider the supermarket boardroom’s conversation:-
Manager: “Profits are down this quarter Sir”.
Chairperson on the Board: “Why? “.
Manager: “Well, six of our €353 Euro trolleys are living in the river Suir and another half-dozen are auditioning as urban sculptures on the Thurles inner relief road“.
Chairperson: “Feck it, right so, put 20 cents on the price of milk and double it for butter. The cows won’t complain“.

“And so”, said Mikey, “here we see, for the first time, the introduction of the ‘Great Trolley Tax’, same being quietly passed on to every struggling, underprivileged household in the land” said Mikey, now in full verbal flow to his newly acquired audience.

He continued, “Some conspiracy theorists even whisper that these trolleys aren’t stolen at all, but strategically “misplaced” to justify current inflation. After all, nothing distracts the public like a shiny bit of stainless steel glinting in the sun beside the proposed inner relief road”.

“Good Lord”, said I, “So next time we’re standing in the supermarket queue, wincing at the cost of our Sunday roast, we should spare a thought for the twelve brave trolleys dumped in Thurles. They may look abandoned, but in truth, they are hard at work, driving up inflation”.

“True for you”, said Mikey, “and if you or anyone else happen to see a trolley making a slow escape toward the riverbank, don’t just hold your nose and grab it. You might not only be helping in the saving of this polluted River Suir, but end up shaving 2% off the price of your next packet of rashers”.

Thurles Road Signs & Road Safety Failures Highlight Council Waste.

We have been watching it, and yes, yet another road sign on Liberty Square, in Thurles, has met its “Waterloo”, demolished by traffic attempting to turn west on a narrow street scape that has become a hazard since its so-called upgrade.

**Sign on Liberty Square, central, left prostrate for 6 days**.

As with the nearby ESB cabinet highlighted on September 7th last, the sign was positioned far too low to be visible to drivers. This latest casualty has lain in the middle of Liberty Square for six full days before being retrieved today, a symbol of official neglect.

This pattern has become all too familiar. In the past three years alone, railings at the Slievenamon Road junction have been flattened three times by heavy vehicles. Five signposts, installed perilously close to narrow traffic lanes, have been damaged. Two remain not replaced. Add these collisions to continuously adjusted pedestrian crossing lights, to a set of traffic lights, not to mention street bicycle racks and everyone can see why Thurles needs a bypass.

**Six damaged traffic signs on a 4.7 km *(2.9 miles)* stretch of roadway near Thurles, Co. Tipperary**.

The problem is not just confined to Thurles. On the short 4.7 km (2.9 miles) stretch of road, between the villages of Littleton and Horse & Jockey; same a six-minute drive, I observed six damaged signs just today. (See above picture). Two remain lying flattened at the scene; four have been removed altogether.
In at least two years, Tipperary County Council has made no effort to replace any of them. Which begs the obvious question, if these signs were dispensable for two years, why were they installed in the first place? The answer points to waste; waste of taxpayers’ money and a lack of responsibility in both planning and maintenance.

While motorists and pedestrians deal daily with poor visibility and dangerous road layouts, Tipperary County Council continues to spend without accountability, leaving the public to pay the price in both safety and wasted resources.

The evidence shown above speaks for itself. The waste of taxpayers’ money by Tipperary County Council still continues, unchecked.

Compensation Package for Shannon-to-Dublin Water Pipeline.

Uisce Éireann agrees compensation package for Shannon-to-Dublin water pipeline.

**Part of Tipperary’s Lough Derg shore line.**

Uisce Éireann has reached agreement with the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) and the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) on a voluntary compensation package for farmers and landowners along the route of its proposed Shannon-to-Dublin water pipeline.

The deal, which follows months of negotiation, marks a key milestone in the Water Supply Project. It includes upfront compensation payments for landowners affected by the pipeline’s construction and operation.

The public utility said the package reflects the project’s national importance while helping to mitigate its impact on farmland. It is now engaging directly with more than 500 landowners who were issued way-leave offers in July. If accepted, the agreements will give Uisce Éireann the rights to lay, operate, and maintain the underground pipeline in advance of a formal planning application.

The deadline for returning consent forms has been extended from September 23rd to October 7th to give farmers more time to consider the offer and seek advice.

A Strategic Infrastructure Development application will be submitted later this year.

Uisce Éireann argues the project is vital to secure future water supplies, citing the greater Dublin Area’s heavy dependence on the River Liffey, which serves 1.7 million people.

Programme Director Mike Healy said demand in the region is forecast to rise by 34% by 2044:
“This combination of a growing supply deficit and lack of resilience is simply not sustainable. This agreement is a major step towards delivery of this essential infrastructure, and we will continue to engage with landowners and communities along the route.”

Thurles Waiting: Relief Road Moves Forward, Bypass Kicked Down the Road.

Tipperary County Council has confirmed it now owns all the land needed for the long-promised Thurles Inner Relief Road.
But with no funding in place for construction, locals fear it is yet another stalling tactic while the badly needed, long awaited Bypass Ring Road is left on the back-burner until at least 2040.

**The now forgotten ‘Thurles Bypass’ plans**.

The scheme, first floated years ago, would provide a 1.1 km road link from Slievenamon Road at the Clongour Road junction (N62) to Mill Road. It would include five new junctions, a 50-metre arch bridge across the River Suir, and associated lighting. The land, all of it lying within the Suir River floodplain, has been purchased by the Council, though the cost of same remains undisclosed.

Land granted courtesy of other residents along the Mill Road will allow for a long awaited footpath extension to form part of a safe walking route in the area, affectionately known currently as “Fat Arse Boulevard”.

Traffic modelling suggests the additional bridge might, cut congestion in the town centre at best by 15%.

But for many residents, the fanfare around this land acquisition rings hollow. Without construction funding, the Inner Relief Road risks remaining just another paper project for between 3-5 years.

Locals argue this recent announcement is designed to mask the continued failure to deliver a 50 year old Ring Road plan; latter a project seen as essential to tackle an ever increasing gridlock in the town.

Once again, they say, Thurles has been left waiting and badly let down by local politicians latter who have two offices funded by taxpayers within the town centre.