Deciding where to spend the excess the Government has at its disposal in the next Budget will be a very difficult balancing act. It will be very hard to make the right call and to get acceptance for spending monies in certain areas at the same time.

However, it is obvious that the Government has a greater capacity for freedom of spending than ever before. It is important to try to get the mix right, both in areas of social and economic spending.

There are several areas of the economy which I believe deserve attention - infrastructure, tax concessions and the national debt.

It will also be important to decide what approach to take - whether economic measures should be introduced over one, two or three budgets. The Government could be in power for the next three budgets and could make fiscal assumptions over three years. There is a danger that if it tries to do too much in a single fiscal period the economy will overheat.

For example, labour and wage inflation issues could arise within the construction industry if the Government embarked on too ambitious a programme on building infrastructure.

I also believe that the Government should tackle planning delays. In certain circumstances planning could be deemed of vital national interest - where planning faces protracted delays because of people with very narrow interests.

There is an element of infrastructure spending built into the various programmes in the National Plan, but an additional amount needs to be committed. Roads in many parts of the Republic are still in very bad shape - especially in the south-east, where I live. Again, however, it would be important not to cause overheating in the construction sector through spending on infrastructure.

More money should also be spent on public transport and on raising public awareness about using it. The DART has proved that if a system is good then people will use it. Dublin lends itself to a significant amount of transport, but things such as the new bus lanes should be promoted and incentives given to the public to use them - such as two journeys for the price of one.

On personal taxation, SIPTU has said it wants cuts of £950 million (€1,206). I believe its concerns would be eased if tax reductions were implemented over the next three Budgets, say £600 million a year, with the aim of bringing 80 per cent of taxpayers out of the higher tax rate net. To try to take out 80 per cent of taxpayers in one Budget would not be right and would definitely cause overheating in the economy.

The availability of labour is also a big issue as is the issue of women in the workforce, which should be addressed. Measures will have to be taken to bring more women into the workforce. There are all sorts of proposals from childcare bodies, including giving tax breaks. These should be implemented.

Immigration laws should also be eased to help resolve labour shortages. There are nearly four million Turks working in Germany which has a population of around 81 million, so they represent about 5 per cent of the population. We should easily be able to assimilate 5 per cent of foreign workers. There is more than enough work.

The weighting of employment and where it comes from has tipped very significantly in favour of foreign companies. It means that the level of job security is less than it was. Indigenous firms cannot move to Scotland or wherever and I believe there should be more emphasis placed on Irish firms.

Every year around 10,000 job losses must be replaced. These comprise on average 5,000 jobs in indigenous firms and 5,000 in foreign companies. Many of these job losses never make the newspapers. One of the big attractions for overseas companies to locate in Ireland is the 10 per cent tax rate, but if such companies get squeezed [in a recession] then they get less benefit from this tax break.

The Government should carefully consider providing more grant aid to indigenous firms in marketing and research and development. Overseas companies have deep pockets and depth of marketing presence and so do not need such aid. However, Irish start-ups do. The Government should look at the US where there are tens of thousands of start-up companies established every year, many very successfully. The Government should allocate around £50 million a year for this.

The national debt now stands at almost £30 billion. Anybody - whether they are an individual or a corporation - with high earnings inevitably uses part of those earnings to bring down debt. The State should do the same. Depending on what future sales achieve - including the privatisation of assets such as Aer Lingus, Coillte, Bord na Mona and the VHI - the Government could wipe £8 billion off the national debt. The debt should be matched against assets. Therefore selling assets and spending the monies elsewhere instead of using the proceeds to pay down debt would not be very sensible.

The old age pension should also be increased to £100 per week. This could easily be done in the next Budget. On other social welfare payments the Government has been increasing them by more than the rate of inflation and this should continue.

More money should also be invested in healthcare. I read recently that in 2020 there will be 100,000 people in the US over 100 years old and there will be one to one nursing. It shows that there is going to be an enormous demand for care facilities as people are living longer, and are also suffering from diseases such as Alzheimer's. The demand for healthcare is a function of ageing.

Finally, I believe with this whole Celtic Tiger phenomenon, there is a danger we will lose the balance in society and we need balance if we are going to have a successful economy. In this regard I think sport is very important and we have fallen behind in investment in this area. There should be more provision in the Budget for sport including spending of about £15 million per annum to upgrade swimming pools.

This could be part of around £40£50 million per annum which should be spent on upgrading sports facilities. The more people you involve in sport, the less time they have to be involved in antisocial activities. (In an interview)

Mr Pat O'Neill is the former chief executive of Glanbia, formed by merging Avonmore and Waterford Foods. He had previously been chief executive of Avonmore. He is a non-executive director of Irish Life & Permanent, a director of the Campbell Bewley Group, chair- man of the Sports Council, chair- man of 2010 Agri Food Committee which is examining the future of agriculture and food in the light of the Agenda 2000 reforms.