Teacher

My budget: Primary teacher Fidelma Sheridan had mixed feelings about the Budget

My budget:Primary teacher Fidelma Sheridan had mixed feelings about the Budget. On the one hand she was happy with what the Budget delivered for workers and first-time buyers, but on the other hand, she felt it did very little for education.

"It was a missed opportunity to invest in early childhood education where we have the lowest investment in Europe," she said.

"It invested in childcare but it didn't invest in early childhood education, which is the next thing that is coming down the line. The back to school allowance for clothing and footwear, which is under child welfare rather than education, amounted to nothing but petty cash.

"It could also have been an opportunity to reduce class sizes which are the second highest in Europe."

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In terms of her own personal circumstances, Ms Sheridan said the measures to assist first-time buyers, particularly the proposal to double the ceiling on mortgage interest relief, would help her in her quest to own her own home.

"It has definitely given me an incentive to do something about it this year. It has been good for me in general," she said.

Ms Sheridan agreed with the Minister's comments that any stamp duty cuts would more likely than not be incorporated into the sale price of a house and end up in the pocket of the seller.

"If he did reduce the stamp duty, it might just have inflated the price of houses so perhaps it was wise not to have done anything about the stamp duty," she said.

The reduction of the top rate of tax from 42 per cent to 41 per cent would also benefit her and she said she was happy with the various income tax measures.

"It was a good budget for workers, for first-time buyers and for business, but there was nothing there for education."