The Dublin City Council Budget for 2014 is currently under debate this evening. The headline items:

There is an increase of €6 million for homeless services relative to the draft budget.

There is an increase of €3.5 million for disability services relative to the City Manager’s Draft budget.

There is an overall reduction in commercial rates of 0.4% – this is the fifth consecutive year of rate reductions and means that rates have decreased by 10% overall, which is an important measure to help businesses and encourage jobs.

There are no Council rent increases, a reduction of 7% from the Draft budget.

There are no increases to City parking charges.

Social regeneration funds for Ballymun are €2m