Negotiations to finalise budget 2021 are continuing this evening.
One of the last points to be decided is the Christmas bonus for social welfare recipients.
Ministers are trying to work out an eligibility scheme for those who are on the pandemic unemployment payment to get it.
Officials are also concerned about the total cost of providing the double payment for everyone on social welfare payments this Christmas.
Meanwhile, Carlow and Kilkenny County Councils are both looking for substantial extra funding from the government in Budget 2021.
Monday’s monthly meeting in Carlow heard that they’d no word yet on how much help would be coming from the government to fill an almost €5m budget deficit.
In Kilkenny that deficit is close to €8m.
But Kilkenny CEO Collette Byrne has told KCLR that while support is crucial for the day-to-day funding of council activities there also has to be a change in how bigger projects like the Butler gallery are financed or they won’t be able to go ahead and we will also lose the knock-on benefits for the local economy.
