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I've heard it off and on that there's a bit of a tax break in the budget for people wanting to get bikes to cycle to work or something along those lines. So what exactly did change in the budget?

Basically, you can get up to €1000 of bike/accessories through your employer, either as a completely free benefit-in-kind (if your employer likes you); or paid for by deductions from your salary, saving you 41% (if that's your tax rate).

There is no obligation on your employer to operate it.
Your employer does not have to notify Revenue that they will operate the scheme.
Your employer wont be allowed a VAT reduction on the bike value. However the employer saves 10.75% Employers PRSI.
It's €1000 every 5 years.
The bike has to be bought by the employer, a receipt by the employee for a refund is not acceptable.
The bike can be purchased anywhere and not confined to Ireland.
Your employer should get you to sign a statement saying that you will use the bike primarily for commuting to work. Commuting to a train station or Luas, Bus stop is OK.
There is no minimum days that you must commute to work on the bike.
It can be a used as a salary sacrifice from your gross pay over a period of no greater than one year.
Alternatively is can be used as a tax free benefit (gift) to the employee.
It does not include part for bikes.
It does include reasonable safety equipment.
It does not include a replacement bike if you crash.
If you spend only, say, €600 on the bike in the scheme then you're done, i.e. you cannot claim the additional €400 at any time within the 5 years. However if you claim €1200 on the scheme the first €1000 is tax free and the balance is taxable (or deductable from your net pay).
Technically employee can claim it more than once if they change employments within the five years and the employers operate the scheme.
On the bottom left of this page there is a savings calculator.

VAT Treatment

Assuming the employer is registered for VAT in Ireland, and the bike is bought from an Irish retailer, the position is straightforward. The retailer charges 21% VAT, and the employer cannot claim it back. The same situation arises where the UK retailer is registered for Irish VAT (eg Wiggle)

If the employer is registered for VAT in Ireland and the bike is bought from a UK retailer that is not registered for VAT in Ireland (which is almost always the case, the main exception being Wiggle), the employer should provide the retailer with its Irish VAT number. The retailer should then not charge any VAT. However the employer should then self-account for Irish VAT at 21%, and is unable to recover it. If the employer does not provide it's Irish VAT number, you end up paying both UK VAT (on the initial purchase) and Irish VAT (under the self-accounting system) - not good news!

In all the above examples, the net position is that irrecoverable Irish VAT at 21% is suffered. It is perhaps important to note that if you are looking at prices with 17.5% UK VAT that come to just under €1,000, the extra 3.5% may bring you above the €1,000 threshhold. In this case, only the excess is a taxable benefit in kind.

The one situation where Irish VAT is not paid is where the employer is not registered for Irish VAT (not normally the case, but possible, particularly for low turnover or financial service companies). In this case the retailer charges UK VAT at 17.5%, but there is no mechanism for the employer to charge itself Irish VAT. Hence the VAT cost is 17.5% in this case.