Sir, - It is clear from their welcome for the Budget that vociferous social and economic interests have been generally well served. The big loser is the environment. No provision was made for any environmental measures beyond a near-irrelevant tinkering with VRT.
The Budget failed to encourage a shift to public transport. Indeed it actually reduced fuel tax for motorists, even though the National Climate Change Strategy accepts that "Ireland has among the lowest prices for transport fuel in the EU". And even though both the ESRI and the OECD have argued for a shift to eco-taxation there is no sign of it.
The Department of the Environment's National Climate Change Strategy seems to make little difference to decisions taken in the Department of Finance. Individualisation brought down last year's Budget in mass hysteria. In 10 years, long after we have forgotten what individualisation meant, when we fail to meet our Kyoto targets for greenhouse emissions and have to pay the penalty in expensive emissions trading we will remember this Budget for its environmental delinquency. - Yours, etc.,
Frank Corcoran, Chairperson, An Taisce's Economic Committee, The Tailors' Hall, Back Lane, Dublin 8.