Health, education and social welfare have received the largest allocations of the Government spending package worth €48.5 billion unveiled by Minister for Finance Brian Cowen today.
The spending estimates for 2006 show that the Government intends to spend an additional €3 billion in 2006, a 6.6 per cent increase on 2005 and ahead of this year's economic growth of around 5 per cent.
Spending in the Department of Health will rise to over €12 billion, an increase of €750 million or 9 per cent. The Department of Education will receive €7.2 billion in 2006 - a 7.9 per cent rise on this year's allocation while Social and Family Affairs will receive €12.4 billion.
Mr Cowen said: "The Government's fiscal and economic policies have transformed the Irish economy.
"Solid growth as a result of these policies will enable extra resources to be applied to enhance our public services in key areas that will both improve the capacity of our economy and look after the needs of our more vulnerable citizens."
He said the allocation of extra resources reflected growth in the economy and "prudent and responsible" management of the economy on the part of the Government.
In addition, he highlighted improvements in education and special needs areas in recent years and said the Government would take a "pragmatic" approach to public service staffing levels in such "front-line" areas as education and health.
In the Department of Justice, €1.29 billion is to be set aside to fund a 14-point anti-crime programme in 2006.
The Health allocation includes around €250 million for service improvements in the areas of disability, commissioning new units, primary care, the National Treatment Purchase Fund, emergency planning and medical education and training.
The Minister said he was also providing separately a provisional allocation of €400 million in 2006 for the reimbursement of charges for long stay care in health board institutions.
He said that he was providing a pre-budget allocation for childcare in 2006 of €2.3 billion, including €1.96 billion for child Benefit in 2006 and €102 million for the Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme. However, full details of the Government's childcare and social welfare packages will not be unveiled until Budget day on December 7th.
Mr Cowen said he would also be announcing a new capital investment package for the period 2006-2010 on Budget Day that will be consistent with the Government's overall capital investment - such as the Transport 21 transport programme.
He announced that in line with the Government's commitment to reaching the target for Overseas Development Aid of 0.7 per cent of GNP by 2012 he was providing for a total commitment of €675 million or 0.47 per cent of GNP for Overseas Development Aid in 2006.
This represents an increase of €129 million on the 2005 allocation of €546 million. This is a first step towards meeting the Government's interim target of 0.5 per cent of GNP in 2007.
Mr Cowen said his provisions "build on the prudent economic management and significant investment by this Government over the last nine years. "Our public finance are extremely sound," he added.
The most recent Exchequer returns showed that Government revenue in the year to October grew by 8.6 per cent over the equivalent period last year and was almost 5 per cent higher than expected for the period at the time of the last budget.
As a result, the Government's overall financial position was €1.2 billion better than expected, causing speculation of strong spending increases in the upcoming budget.
In response to public concerns of a rip off Ireland culture Mr Cowen has allocated additional funds to consumer agencies.
The National Consumer Agency will receive €3 million to raise awareness on key consumer issues and advocate on behalf of consumers.
The Competition Authority has secured additional funding of €750,000 to allow it to strengthen its Cartel Enforcement Division to enable it to step up it case load into breaches of the Competition Act.