The Minister for Finance may not have announced any radical new measures for business in Wednesday's Budget but there was plenty in his speech that affected companies, both for better and worse. The business community was generally pleased that the Budget underpinned Partnership 2000 while it also welcomed what IBEC described as a "generally favourable approach to the labour market".

By taking more people out of the tax net but not announcing substantial increases in social welfare rates, the Budget increased the incentive to work, a move that should help firms which are facing difficulties recruiting staff.

"The overall thrust of the Budget was right," says Mr Brian Geoghegan, economist with IBEC. "There has been some concern about whether it's too expansionary or inflationary but the fact that tax cuts were targeted at the lower paid should help."

But not all of the measures were viewed positively. Manufacturing companies, in particular, were less than pleased with the increase in the ceiling for employers' PRSI. While the services sector stands to gain from reductions in corporation tax, manufacturing firms are already on a low rate so they will be paying more without gaining anything.