Restaurant Owner

Angela Ruttledge (38) who owns Olive’s Room, a restaurant in Clontarf, Dublin, said she was broadly pleased with the budget. In particular, she said she was “very happy” with the retention of the 9 per cent VAT rate for the tourism and hospitality sector.

“That’s really important for us,” she said. “It was a great stimulus and confidence booster when it was brought and it was important for the sector that it was retained.

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“Excise duty on wine and beer also didn’t go up, so that’s good news for us. We would have liked VAT on wine to come down because it’s the highest in Europe, and makes coming here very unaffordable. It’s a tax on the middle classes basically.”

Ms Ruttledge added she would like to have seen measures to address staffing issues in the sector. “More funding for training and college places is urgently needed in this area because we are on our knees in terms of getting staff,” she said.

Student

Carly Bailey (36), a mature student in the second year of a degree in Law and Political Science at Trinity College Dublin, said the budget was “a step in the right direction”.

“More needs to be done – and quicker – if they are really serious about education being the bedrock of society,” she said. “They need to put their money where their mouth is.”

Ms Bailey also said there was a need for more detail in relation to some of the proposals. “The devil is in the detail,” she said. “It’s difficult to see what exactly they’re talking about when they mention things like Exchequer-Employer investment mechanisms.

“It’s disappointing that the contribution charge hasn’t been lowered. Any sort of reduction there would have helped an awful lot of students but there was nothing. It’s going to be difficult for many, especially those who are just over the threshold for grants.”

SME owner

Liam Fahy, owner of computer software company Videnda which employs 14 staff, said there “wasn’t a whole lot in it” for small and medium sized enterprises. “The focus seemed to be more on individual taxation, but we sort of expected that,” he said.

“The one thing I would have liked to have seen addressed was Brexit. There is a lack of action on it and there is very little there to support small businesses from the fallout when they have already been hit.

“I’m not specifically in a sector that will be impacted by it directly but the knock-on effect will be that – once others are affected – they won’t have money to spend.”

In terms of the positives, Mr Fahy said: “Anything which increases people’s take home pay is going to increase local consumer spending, which will help to drive the economy. But it’s been very very marginal. I don’t see it having a massive impact.”

OAP

Ellen Redden (76) from Ballymun, Dublin, said she was disappointed there wasn’t more in the budget for OAPs following the cuts of recent years. “They’re giving us the extra fiver in the State pension but they’re not giving to us until March,” she said.

“They gave us back €3 last time but it cost us €13 with the cutbacks. If they’re going to give us back a fiver this time, God only knows what it’s going to cost us. Isn’t it funny how old people are always an add on. It’s no change at all really.”

In terms of what else she would have liked to see in the budget, Ms Redden highlighted the home care package. “There are an awful lot of people in hospital who don’t want to be there,” she said.

“If they could have increased the home care package or done something positive with it, they would be freeing up hospital beds as well as making a huge difference to people’s lives.”

Lone parent

Kerri Knapp (32), a lone parent based in Waterford, has two daughters in primary school and has been unable to afford childcare that would enable her to get work. She said she was “actually quite happy” with the provisions introduced.

“The subsidies for children and young people attending childcare providers will hopefully mean I can now afford to put my children in crèches and go out and get a job,” she said.

“It seems as though it will no longer be cheaper to stay at home with your children. It will be more affordable to go to work and you can know that your child is in a nice, safe crèche, without worrying about affording the fees.

Nobody is going to hire me for four hours a day while my children are in school. It should be affordable for me now to put my kids in a crèche after school.”

Farmer

Joe Brady (52), a beef farmer from Co Cavan, said the budget addressed a number of the issues that have been put forward by farmers in recent months. “That has to be welcomed,” he said.

“The low interest loans that are going to be made available will certainly be a welcome measure to lot of farmers across all sectors. There will also be increases in the Rural Development Programme.

“At a lower level, the reversal of the farm assist cuts that took place a number of years ago is very welcome. The new €25m sheep welfare scheme will be welcomed by sheep farmers.”

Mr Brady added that after “the many cuts” farmers have endured in recent budgets, “you have to be positive about this one”.