All the Budget 2019 news, hotel results and top commercial property sales

It's the morning after the budget day before, on which tax cuts took a back seat to spending increases, according to Eoin Burke-Kennedy. He writes that the Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe announced a raft of measures to address bottlenecks in housing and health, which are seen as key priorities for voters.

Mark Paul takes a look at the Budget 2019 provisions announced for business and entrepreneurs. He also reports on the confirmation that hotels and restaurants (and hairdressers) will lose their reduced rate of VAT from January and brings reaction from the industry.

Fiona Reddan examines at how the tax changes will affect families across the State while Conor Pope takes a look at the winners and losers in the budget. Laura Slattery meanwhile decodes Paschal Donohoe's very lengthy budget speech.

Reporters also cover the main changes for the big ticket areas of health, education and housing as well as transport, justice, defence and agriculture. And as the Government comes under attack overt the lack of progress on climate change, Kevin O'Sullivan examines what is, and is not, being done and why.

Culture spending up 13.5%, with Arts Council welcoming €75m funding

---

Budget 2019: Spending boost for welfare, health, housing as FF/FG agree to review confidence deal

---

State investment body could provide ‘excess’ €1.5bn for infrastructure

---

Budget 2019: Landlords the ‘big winners’ says homelessness worker

---

Don't forget to tune in this morning from 7:30am as Dominic Coyle and Fiona Reddan answer your budget queries with Grant Thornton tax director Sarah Meredith and tax manager Shane Roe. You can put questions to the team here but in the meantime, work out how the the budget affected your personal finances with our Budget Calculator in association with PricewaterhouseCoopers. You can follow their live blog here.

And in a special edition of the Inside Business podcast, business editor Ciarán Hancock talks to deputy political editor Fiach Kelly on whether this was an election budget while PricewaterhouseCoopers tax partner Liam Diamond assesses the budget's impact on business and Cliff Taylor looks at whether it will help the Republic to get Brexit-ready.

Outside budget news, Charlie Taylor reports that intensive investment led to losses at some of the State's most prominent hotel properties in 2017, with both Ashford Castle and Mount Juliet ending the year in the red.

Charlie also brings news of the IMF's latest outlook for the global economy, which finds all is not as solid as it might be.

The data protection commissioner will doubtless welcome the extra €3.5 million her office was allocated in the budget, particularly as she grapples with a fresh breach affecting at least 500,000 users at Google+. Helen Dixon said on Tuesday that she was seeking further information on the problem.

In her London Briefing column, Fiona Walsh wonders how many of us would fancy six months off on gardening leave with a pay and bonus package worth some €7 million, just like the outgoing boss of Aviva. Nice (lack of) work if you can get it, we say.

Our Commercial Property section this week features two full apartment blocks for sale in Citywest and Finglas in Dublin respectively, again underlining the momentum in this still relatively young market for the State.

We also have details of a pre-let building in Dublin 2 that will produce a rent roll of about €1.4 million and a Grand Canal Dock office block that has been let for more than the quoted rent of €646 per sq m.

Commercial Property Editor Jack Fagan reports that two office blocks in Sandyford in Dublin that were bought three years ago for €15 million are back on the market for ¤23.8 million after an upgrade.

He has news too of a mixed-use development in Tallaght, Dublin 24, that has an unusually high vacancy rate and is on the market for ¤15 million.

Stay up to date: sign up to our business news alerts here and our Business Today daily email news digest here.