Some 800 extra teachers will be assigned to help cut class sizes and to support children whose first language is not English, the Minister for Education Mary Hanafin has announced.
Ms Hanafin said the 10 per cent in funding for her Department in 2007, announced in today's Estimates, will bring day to day spending on education to €8.4 billion.
Minister for Health Mary Harney
The Minister said funding for the universities and institutes of technology would rise by 11 per cent to over €1.4 billion under the Estimates published today.
Ms Hanafin said the Government will continue to target the highest levels of funding towards those who most needed help.
"Children with special educational needs, children who may be at risk of educational disadvantage and those children who come with their parents, to live and work in Ireland, who need our support to help them get the full benefit of our education system."
"This involves direct funding increases of €147 million for core running costs, reform and development, the expansion of medical education and research and development," she said.
"This includes a €12 million current funding increase for R&D, bringing the total available next year to 93 million under the new Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation."
In other departments, Minister for Health Mary Harney said new hospital units and older people would be "high priorities" in her €14 billion package of health funding for 2007.
She said total public spending on health provided in today's Estimates amounts to €14 billion gross current plus €657 million gross capital.
"The government is again providing for a substantial annual increase in public spending on health, of over €1.1 billion," Ms Harney said.
"This brings health spending - gross current plus gross capital to approximately €14.5 billion. That is over €3,300 per person in Ireland today. It is a quarter of government current spending, more than the entire income tax take from 1.4 million income tax payers.
"The spending increases in health have, since 1997, always been well above the rate of inflation, in fact, double or treble inflation, and well above the increases provided in the 1990s. Each year, health has always received high priority from the Government, and that is the case again this year."
Ms Harney said she would make good on commitments to open eight new units in acute hospitals next year. Some €75 million has been allocated for this.
Hospitals that will benefit include St Vincent's in Dublin, the Midland Regional Hospital in Tullamore, University College Hospital Galway, Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, Cavan General Hospital and Louth County Hospital, Dundalk.
Welcoming the 9 per cent funding increase allocated to the justice and equality sector, Minister for Justice Michael McDowell, said the additional funding will yield almost three million extra man hours of policing by uniformed and special units throughout the State.
Describing the jump in funding of €181m to €2.4 billion as a "significant increase", he said the allocation would "enhance the capacity the Garda Síochána to combat crime."
Minister for Social Affairs Seamus Brennan said spending on social welfare will increase in 2007 to €14.07 billion - an increase of over €458 million before announcements in the December Budget are taken into account.
The Minister said the commitment in the Estimates was the highest ever spend on social welfare before the inclusion of Budget measures.
He said the €12.49 billion estimate in 2006 was significantly boosted by an additional €1.12 billion in the Budget to give an "historically high" combined spend last year of €13.61 billion.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern welcomed the increase in aid to developing countries from €600.5 million in 2006 to €728M in 2007.
A further €85 million will be provided for development aid through other Government Departments, bringing Ireland's Official Development Assistance (ODA) in 2007 to €813 million.
The increased allocation amounts to 0.5 per cent of Ireland's GNP. The Government has recommitted itself to reaching the 0.7 per cent target of the United Nations by 2012. The Government changed its target date last year after failing to reach the original 0.7 per cent target by the 2007 date originally promised.
The Department of Arts, Sport And Tourism, with an overall Budget of €698.6m for 2007, sees an increase of 17.6 per cent over 2006.
The Minister, John O'Donoghue, said he was "delighted" with the increased funding.
"Arts, sport and tourism sectors have received unprecedented tangible support from the Government in terms of significantly increased financial allocations," he said.