In short

A round-up of other budget news in brief

Justice gets €51m extra for capital items

The Department of Justice has been allocated an extra €51 million for capital items, much of it going to the Courts Service.

A total of €18.2 million will be spent on courthouse renovation and refurbishment next year. The courthouses to be improved are Nenagh, Longford, Belmullet, Cork, Tullamore, Ballyshannon, the Four Courts, Fermoy, Kilkenny and Killarney.

In addition, a new criminal courts complex will proceed through public-private partnership.

The Garda will receive €17.2 million, divided between information technology and a new Garda helicopter, which will cost €5.9 million.

A new IT-driven information and incident system, linking forensics, ballistics, fingerprints, mapping and incident-room management, will cost €4 million. A computer system will be installed to enable the Garda to share EU-wide intelligence.

The Prisons Service will receive an extra €4 million to continue prison development. This is in addition to the proposed new prison, which did not appear in the Estimates, as the site was bought this year.

The Department of Justice has also received €1.3 million to "make further progress" with youth justice initiatives and the implementation of the Children Act.

A further €10.3 million has also been announced for the Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme, which is mainly aimed at community childcare projects. This brings the total budget for this aspect of childcare to €114.6 million.

Simon says it is disappointed

The Simon Communities of Ireland last night expressed disappointment that the Government did not prioritise housing.

Simon said three actions could have made a serious impact on homelessness; an increase in social housing expenditure, an increase in the caps on Capital Assistance Scheme housing and the introduction of a revenue stream to support formerly homeless people.

"We are disappointed that housing and homelessness was not a priority for Government in today's Budget.

"We trust that when the review of Government's strategy on homeless is published in January a commitment to shift fiscal policy to homeless prevention and long-term housing solutions will be made," said Noeleen Hartigan, social policy and research co-ordinator.

Measures for charities welcomed

The Ireland Funds last night welcomed the measures to encourage philanthropic activity and charitable giving. Mr Cowen extended tax deductability to include the gift of shares to approved non-profits organisations.

The Ireland Funds' president and CEO, Kingsley Aikins, said the measure would be of great benefit to all charitable organisations in Ireland.

"The Ireland Funds is thrilled that the Government is interested in creating a bank of social capital in Irish society.

"The decision will create conducive conditions to positioning Ireland as a world-class philanthropic centre, and will result in extra donations flowing to worthy causes throughout Irish society, such as projects in the areas of peace and reconciliation, community development, education and the arts."

Friends of the Earth attacks carbon plan

Environmentalists last night criticised the plan for a €20 million carbon fund to tackle greenhouse gas emissions announced in the Budget, claiming it was a stealth tax on consumers.

The fund will be used to purchase pollution credits under the international carbon trading scheme to help Ireland meet its Kyoto obligations.

Friends of the Earth said the Minister for Finance should not have abandoned plans for a carbon tax, which would have been more successful in cutting pollution.

The cost of the fund would inevitably grow over the next few years, hitting consumers, the organisation said.

However, the Minister for the Environment, Dick Roche, last night said the Budget was one of the greenest ever.

"Ireland will meet its Kyoto commitments in a balanced and sensible manner, which not only protects our environment, but also protects jobs and safeguards industry," he said.

Paddy Power to scrap betting tax

Bookmaker Paddy Power is to offer tax-free betting following a 50 per cent Budget reduction in betting duty.

The Minister for Finance said he was reducing the duty to 1 per cent from next July to prevent betting offices from competing on the basis of tax.

Mr Cowen said he intended that the remaining duty be borne by bookmakers and not the consumer.

The reduction was last night welcomed by the Irish Bookmakers' Association and the Irish Independent Betting Office Association.

Budget 'niggardly' - Siptu president

The Budget was dismissed as "cautious", "niggardly" and "predictable" by Siptu president Jack O'Connor.

In a statement last night, Mr O'Connor said the Budget should be viewed in the context of the "unprecedented level of resources available to the Government - estimated to be €4 billion in excess of the predictions of a year ago".

Seen in that context, it was "another cautious Budget from Minister Cowen".

"In the light of the resources available, the combined increases in tax credits, from which all workers who pay tax would benefit, were more niggardly than expected," Mr O'Connor said.

The "one big flaw", he added, had been a failure to address skills deficiencies in an economy in which approximately 500,000 workers had not completed second-level education.

Impact rues tax break inaction

Disappointment that Minister Cowen had maintained "lucrative tax breaks" for private hospitals was expressed by the public sector union, Impact.

It said the tax breaks for private hospitals built on the grounds of public hospitals would cost taxpayers €40 for every €100 of private investment, plus the value of the land involved.

The union's general secretary, Peter McLoone, said the tax breaks were a major element of the two-tier health service.

"Taxpayers on low and middle incomes are subsidising the private health business, and the better-off who can afford private health care.

"But there's little hope that this tax scheme will free up many public beds because private hospitals only target relatively simple and profitable elective surgery," he said.

Relief for donated heritage property

A new scheme is to be established providing tax relief for heritage property donated to the proposed Heritage Trust, subject to a cap of €6 million a year on the level of overall relief. The scheme is to be modelled on the policy already applying to gifts of heritage items to certain museums and galleries.

Reactions to Budget measures

The Chambers of Commerce of Ireland welcomed most measures though it was uncertain about the cumulative impact.

Chief executive John Dunne said the Budget was strongly expansionary when coupled with the ending of SSIAs, and this at a time when the economy was growing rapidly. There was a danger of a substantial economic hangover in three to five years' time, he said. The chambers were disappointed there was no indication of an exemption on employer contributions to childcare places from benefit-in-kind taxes.

Ibec

Ibec director general Turlough O'Sullivan said considerable amounts of public spending were not well targeted. Mr Cowen did not focus enough on the needs of parents working outside the home and didn't act on Ibec's suggestion to provide incentives for lower-paid workers to take out pensions.

The increase in public spending was "disturbing overspending", especially in an economy that depends on construct- ion and consumer spending.

Irish Exporters

The Irish Exporters' Association was disappointed that there were no direct measures to support the industry.

They had looked for funds to replace plants with the latest automated equipment to help stem declines in output in the last five years. They had also asked for reduced excise duty on fuel.

Bookmakers

The reduction of the tax rate on betting to 1 per cent from 2 per cent next July was welcomed by the Irish Bookmakers' Association and the Irish Independent Betting Office Association. Bookmakers will absorb the remaining duty. Not only will punters benefit, but the Irish betting industry will be able to compete better internationally, it said.

Financial Services

Financial Services Ireland welcomed the abolition of capital duty, saying it would create greater Irish influence on key investment decisions by foreign firms. It was disappointed, though, with the lack of commitment to pensions.

Accountants

The Institute of Chartered Accountants said small businesses would benefit from improved consumer demand because of the tax changes to the basic credit and standard bands, as well as the childcare package.

Vintners

The Vintners' Federation was "bitterly" disappointed that excise duties on alcohol were not reduced. Its president, Séamus O'Donoghue, said this will further undermine Ireland's competitiveness, especially in tourism.

Excise duty on beer in Ireland was 10 times higher than in Germany, while wine was taxed at six times the rate in Belgium.

Small businesses

The Irish Small and Medium Enterprises' Association said the Minister missed a significant opportunity to restore competitiveness when he failed to address the high costs for businesses and didn't introduce initiatives to encourage innovation among small firms.

It was disappointed at the failure to address the anomaly that forced businesses to pay for shortfalls in local authority budgets through commercial rates, water, waste and other charges. Increased maternity leave would also affect such firms disproportionately.

Tourism

The Irish Tourist Industry Confederation was disappointed at the failure to allow valued-added tax to be refundable on corporate expenditure on conferences, incentive travel and on corporate meetings at hotels and restaurants.

"This is a self-imposed competitive disadvantage that puts us out of line with most other European countries," it said.