By his initial calculations, Mr Paddy Molloy from Cavan town reckons his family will be £8 a week better off after the Budget. He won't be celebrating this weekend as he feels there was no big gain for the ordinary unemployed person.
Mr Molloy lives with his wife and four children, two of whom are still in full-time education. His daughter Vicky is in her first year of college and he is worried he will have difficulty supporting her when she moves out of the town to continue her studies next year. "I'm disappointed that there was no mention of an increase in the third-level grant, I don't want her to have to work too much and interfere with her studies."
Overall, Mr Molloy felt there was nothing particularly exciting in the Budget. "It was just a balancing act", he said. The household spends £16 a week on two bags of coal and the £2.09 increase in the fuel allowance to £7.09 is appreciated. However, that saving will be cancelled out by the increase in the cost of petrol.
Mr Molloy works as information officer in the Information and Opportunity Centre in Cavan on a community employment scheme. It is the most interesting job he has had so far and he hopes it will lead to full-time work.
He was glad to see the increases in pensions but regretted that people earning the minimum wage were still not taken out of the tax net.