The Budget announcements of Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin are a “triumph of spin over substance”, Fianna Fáil has claimed.
Fianna Fáil public expenditure spokesman Seán Fleming said the biggest cut Mr Howlin was making was in "employment".
"You are cutting public sector numbers, you're cutting capital the expenditure programme," he said. "There is not a single initiative to create a job, next week, next month or next year. Everything you're doing is cutting jobs."
Mr Fleming, a Laois Offaly TD, said the reduction in the State's redundancy payback "is forcing employers to make employees redundant tonight before the new rates come in so they can claim back" funds.
Mr Fleming told Mr Howlin: "The Government has been careful to protect some of your well paid friends and cronies. We have seen the Taoiseach has personally ensured a 35 per cent increase for one of his own friends."
He also accused the Government of looking after its "friends and cronies" with increases in office administration of up to 30 per cent and increases in travel and subsistence payments for officials in many Government departments.
Giving the Fianna Fáil response to Mr Howlin's announcements, Mr Fleming said his party supported the overall target of €3.8 billion in expenditure cuts and tax increases and the 8.6 per cent budget deficit target.
But he condemned a number of the "choices" the Government had made and hit out at the protection of "friends in high places".
Mr Fleming said the Taoiseach had told the public "we're all in it together and you're going to be fair" but Enda Kenny had increased the travel and subsistence allowance for staff in his office by 18 per cent.
Sinn Féin spokeswoman on public expenditure Mary Lou McDonald accused Labour of breaking election promises.
Labour, she said, had made commitments, in a number of areas, knowing full well the state of the public finances.
"You see, there was no great revelations when you walked into Government Buildings," she said. "The only revelation was for the public when it became clear that you were ripping up all of your pre-election promises."
She said it was a given that the budget deficit had to be reduced, and there was no easy way out of the crisis.
"There are no soft options available, but there are choices to be made," said Ms McDonald.
Socialist TD Clare Daly accused the Government of "only doing what the shower who went before you were doing" and accused Mr Howlin of being "an equal opportunities butcher".
The Dublin West TD described the Minister's budget of being a "pitiful disappointment" and "far from being a crusading Minister in bringing in radical reform" all he had brought in was more of what the previous government had done.
"The only positive now is that we won't have to listen to the Government bleating that it's all Fianna Fáil's fault."
Independent TD Catherine Murphy said she did not see any vision in the Minister's budgetary document, "apart from cuts".
Independent TD Stephen Donnelly said the Budget debate was a circus and that if he was an outsider looking at "a bunch of people making up our national parliament, paid a minimum of €93,000 and protected by gilt-edged pensions… behaving like we are behaving today… I would be very angry and scared about the future of our country''.