Sharon Keogan raises costs of free broadband and youth voucher
Sharon Keogan outlined her pre-budget analysis on the projected cost of free broadband for older and vulnerable persons and a proposed €200 recreational voucher for 16-19-year-olds. She argued the figures — including 573,000 household benefit recipients in 2026 costing €296,000,000 and an estimated €61,000,000 for the youth voucher — expose demographic and funding pressures for the Department of Finance.
Pre-budget work and Parliamentary Budget Office
She said she engaged Porik Monaghan, formerly in Senator McDougall's office, to work with the Parliamentary Budget Office on submissions she intends to make ahead of the pre-budget process that the Department of Finance will consider.
Free broadband analysis and household benefit projections
Her analysis of introducing free broadband for older and vulnerable persons emphasised the projected rise in household benefit package recipients from 2026 to 2030 of almost 100,000 people. She cited a 2026 projection of 573,000 recipients and an estimated cost of €296,000,000 as a startling figure.
Recreational voucher for 16-19-year-olds
She also analysed a proposed €200 recreational voucher for 16 to 19-year-olds and reported an estimated government cost of around €61,000,000. She noted the projected young population at 309,000 in 2026 and only slightly higher in 2030, underlining the demographic context for the proposal.
Demographic concerns and funding implications
Keogan warned of a "serious issue" arising from an ageing population and the size of younger cohorts, suggesting these demographic trends will shape affordability and prioritisation in upcoming budget decisions.
Summer acknowledgements to staff
She closed the remarks by wishing colleagues and parliamentary and constituency staff — including Bridget, catering staff, ushers and Bill's office teams — a safe, happy and healthy summer.
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I want to raise the issue. A lot of people think that our holidays are tomorrow and we all go on holidays until the middle of September and that's it. But there's an awful lot of work that goes on behind the scenes, both in this House and back in our constituency that people might not be aware of. As part of that, I acquired a young man that actually was in Senator McDougall's office, Porik Monaghan, to do a little bit of work with the Parliamentary Budget Office in relation to a couple of submissions that I would like to make in relation to the pre-budget that the Department of Finance will be looking at in the next couple of months. And I did one on the cost of introducing free broadband for the older and vulnerable persons. And wasn't it actually the cost that actually got me? That was shocking because what got me was the number of recipients of the household benefit package and how that is going to increase from 2026 to 2030. It's almost 100,000 people. So the cost of that projected for 2026 is 573,000 people and that would cost 296,000,000. I also did an analysis on the introduction of a 200-euro recreational voucher for 16 to 19-year-olds. And that too was a little bit shocking on the figure. Not so much, I actually, the figure wasn't too shocking in how much it was going to cost the government. The government was only going to be, I think it was going to cost them around 61,000,000. But it is the drop of our young people from 2026 at 309,000. And it's just slightly above that for 2030 in the number of young people that will be around. So we have a serious issue in relation to people that are growing older in our society, but also are younger and our population. So these are two things that I would like the Minister to look at in relation to funding. I think they're very worthy causes, both for the young people and the elderly of this country. But I also want to wish all my colleagues during the summer a very happy summer and healthy summer and safe summer, but also to the staff, all the staff in these houses, to Bridget and all our team in the office, to all our catering staff, to the ushers, to all those that look after us every single day, everyone in the Bill's office, all those people that really help us make our work a lot better. I want to wish them all a safe, happy and healthy summer. Thank you.
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