Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin has denied that the Budget is akin to the “auction politics” that characterised the Celtic Tiger era.

“If you want to talk about buying an election, look at Fianna Fáil,” he told George Hook when speaking on The Right Hook shortly after his speech in the Dáil this afternoon.

Speaking to The Right Hook on Newstalk, Mr Howlin said the 2016 Budget is “a modest give-back to people who are vulnerable.” He said the measures announced this afternoon would be a fraction of an increased tax take.

One of the standout measures announced was the recruitment of 600 new gardaí in 2016, along with 2,200 new teaching positions and a restoration of healthcare spending to pre-crisis levels.

“We are growing the public where at the front line the greatest strain is evident,” Mr Howlin said.

George Hook queried why an increase in childcare benefits was across the board, rather than targeted at those families on lower incomes. Mr Howlin said: “The most vulnerable people are families with children. We’ve had numerous looks at how to target that money better but in truth it’s very difficult to establish a whole means testing system again and to have a cut off point.”

Rejecting George’s contention that this was another example of auction politics that could put Ireland on an unsteady footing in future, Mr Howlin said: “We have increased expenditure in the last two years by 4%, taxes in the same period have gone up by 14% and GDP has grown by 18% in the same period.”

In his speech in the Dáil Mr Howlin announced measures for two weeks paternity leave, 600 extra Gardaí and over 2,000 additional teaching posts – as well as €50m for 2016 commemorations.

Howlin followed the speech of Minister for Finance Michael Noonan’s speech, and on to be outdone by his predecessor’s promise of “an additional week’s wages in every workers’ pockets,” Mr Howlin began by saying that “The days of spending cuts are behind us”.

Here are the main points of Minister Howlin's speech

Overall and extra Extra €750m for additional public expenditure

Public Services

Extra 600 Gardai to be recruited in 2016

€13.2bn for delivery of health services next year – restores resoucres of health services to pre-crisis level

Childcare

• Free childcare from age three to five and a half, or until start of primary school
• 8,000 childcare places to support parents in low paid employment
• €3m being provided to develop afterschool in school buildings.
• Child Benefit to go up by €5 to €140 next year
• Fuel allowance to increase by €2.50 a week to €22.50
• GP care to be extended to under 12's next year (subject to negotiation with doctor representatives)
• Statutory paternity leave of two weeks

Social welfare

• Restoring value of respite care grant to €1,700
• Threshold for supplement increases by €5 per week for families with one child, €10 per week for those with 2 or more children
• The welfare Christmas bonus restored to 75% of former total
• Housing
• Extra €69m to allow local authorities secure accommodation for extra 14,000 households

Other

• Extra €50m for an extensive range of events and initiatives to commemorate 2016
• Overseas aid budget of €640m

Junior Health Minister Kathleen Lynch says negotiations on free GP care for Under 6s was thorough, and a lot of groundwork has already been done for extending it to the under 12s: