MARIAN Freeman watched Ruairi Quinn's Budget speech live on the television in her council house. It didn't take her long to figure out that her family would be £4.58 better off a week, or £6.58 if she took into account the increase in child benefit.
She believes her husband, Liam, who has been unemployed for almost eight years, is not likely to be one of the people to benefit from the return-to-work measures. "They don't want men his age (Liam is 57). When they say over 35, they probably mean 35 to 45," she says.
"I'm disappointed they did not make any allowances for married women," she says. She would like to return to work or do a training scheme, but she would need to register unemployed to get on a scheme.
This would mean that Liam's unemployment assistance, currently £152.80 a week, would be split between the two of them. At the moment, he is paid £62.50 a week for himself, £37.50 for Marian and £13.20 for each of their four children.
Most of her increase will be swallowed by the 1Op increase in excise on cigarettes, and her annual rent rise, which usually comes in before the social welfare increases actually appear in the weekly cheque.
The 3 per cent rise in social welfare payments will just about cover these, she says, leaving her to cover the supermarket price rises with the remainder.
Like last year's Budget, the rise in child benefit, up from £118 a month for the Freeman family to £126 a month, was a welcome increase.
"There are good things in the Budget for; some people," Marian says.
Two weeks ago she was considering taking a job at around £120 a week. "Anything over £60 is taken off Liam's allowance so I could end up working full-time for around £60." She feels that her family has fallen between stools in a Budget that improved things for the low-paid and for those people who are in a position to return to work.
She is paid a £97 monthly domiciliary care allowance for her eldest daughter, Geraldine, who has cerebral palsy. According to the Department of Health there is no increase in this payment, although Marian says it usually goes up by around £2 every year.