For once, unions and employers were at one in welcoming the main elements of the Budget - and in condemning the failure of the Government to tackle the childcare needs of working parents.
Restoring the value of the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness was the priority of unions and the Budget received a qualified seal of approval from the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.
The general secretary of ICTU, Mr Peter Cassells, said last night the tax improvements for PAYE workers in the Budget "will restore the improvements in living standards agreed in the PPF. The anti-inflationary measures should also help reduce inflation."
However, Mr Cassells warned that some other measures in the Budget were not adequate "and will be the subject of ongoing discussions between congress and the Government within the structures of the PPF.
"Poverty, housing and child care will be at the top of the agenda for action in the coming months."
The director general of the Irish Business and Employers Confederation, Mr Turlough O'Sullivan, warned that the Budget had "inflationary potential unless all parties fulfil their commitments, including industrial peace".
He said businesses struggling to recruit and retain skilled employees were "highly disappointed by the decision to remove the employers' PRSI ceiling".
It is estimated there are 100,000 PAYE workers earning more than £28,000 a year and the cost could be significant.
IBEC welcomed the 4 per cent reduction in corporation tax and the reductions in personal taxation, which would "rightly focus benefits on those on low to middle incomes".
Mr O'Sullivan said: "All workers will be dramatically better off in light of this Budget, the last budget and the commitments of the PPF." It would also make it easier to attract skilled people from overseas.
Impact's general secretary, Mr Peter McLoone, who also heads ICTU's public services committee, gave a broad welcome to the Budget. "Impact set out to restore the value of the PPF through extra pay rises and budgetary measures and we have accomplished that goal.
"The PPF pay review means cumulative pay increases will now be at least 18 per cent over the lifetime of the deal and tax cuts and anti-inflation measures in the Budget will further restore the value of the agreement. The net PPF gain will now be well over 30 per cent for most workers."
Mr McLoone particularly welcomed the increase in the PAYE tax allowance, increased tax-free allowances and the widening of the standard rate tax band, which takes all workers on average incomes out of the higher tax band.
However, like many union leaders, he felt it would have been fairer to increase tax-free allowances rather than reduce the top rate of tax to benefit the higher paid.