Before Mr Matt Reville can give his opinion on this year's Budget he wants to know when the "real budget" will kick in.

"Last year we saw a rash of increases and stealth taxes in the weeks after the budget was announced in areas like the ESB," says the 56-year-old primary school teacher.

"A&E costs have already gone up, as has the Drug Payment Scheme, and I read that VHI may go up by up to 11 per cent. So before we can celebrate any benefits, we have to wait and see what price hikes await us in the weeks ahead.

"It's not as rosy as it looks. Although the tax credit has been raised, and the standard tax band, there were no increases in those areas for the last two years. So that brings us back to pre-2003 levels.

"And I was also hoping that these increases would be index-linked as well, so that they would automatically rise in line with inflation every year.

"The way things are now, any progress made in the economy will actually be a step back as far as taxation is concerned."

Matt believes that this theme was echoed in the Estimates for Education.

"I was delighted to see library allowances increased, and the allowance for special needs education and ICT (information and communication technology) has been raised significantly, but these are areas that have suffered in recent years.

"And clearly there is to be no reduction of the teacher-pupil ratio."

Matt did praise the "socialist leanings" of the Budget.

"It does seem that this Minister is looking after the have-nots, as opposed to his predecessor, who looked after the have-lots."