Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan has published the Finance Bill, which gives effect to measures announced in April's supplementary Budget.
View the Finance Bill
The Bill confirms that redundancy payments made in the first four months of the year will not be subject to the higher income levy rates introduced in the April Budget.
The Bill also includes a number of other new measures, including a reduction in the rates of interest applied by Revenue to late payments and underpayments of tax by businesses.
These will come down by around 20% to between 8% and 10% from 1 July. The Minister says this is to ease pressure on businesses in the current difficult economic climate.
The Bill does not include a proposal announced in the Budget to change the way car dealers can account for VAT on second-hand cars.
The Minister said the motor industry had told him that the scheme would not be in the best interest of the industry. But he said there would be further talks on what other measures could be introduced to help the motor industry, especially related to the current large stock of second-hand cars.
Earlier, the minister defended his supplementary Budget, days after the European Commission said Ireland faces a fall in economic output of 9% - over 1% more than predicted by the Government.
Speaking on RTE’s News at One, Brian Lenihan stressed that forecasting was very difficult in ‘a world economic firestorm’.
He said the European Commission had pointed out that the reason why the prediction was worse, was that the general European economy had worsened.
'All of the political parties...had predicted continued economic growth for the next number of years', he said.
Mr Lenihan said it was very encouraging that his Budget had received warm praise from the Commission, the European Central Bank and the other European countries.
'The Government is working with the social partners to try to devise a new framework that acknowledges the adjustments that have to be made.'
Saying he would prefer an agreement with the social partners, he stressed the Government would proceed without any agreement to make the required decisions.
