Budget 2027 Pre-Game: Housing Minister's €20k Gambit, Harris Eyes Tax Reform, and RTÉ Gets Tough Love

Housing Minister James Browne has thrown his hat into the Budget 2027 ring with a bold proposal: a €20,000 increase in the Help-to-Buy tax refund for first-time buyers purchasing new homes. Browne is pushing to bridge the affordability gap that has priced a generation out of homeownership, framing the measure as a direct response to the CSO figures showing annual house price growth still running at 5.5% as of July. The proposal signals that housing affordability will be...