Transport and childcare are the two most important issues for employers whose employees want to work in Dublin but cannot afford to live there. With average costs of childcare in Dublin at about €180 per week, the additional childcare supplement for children under six of just under €20 per week does little to alleviate the crippling costs of childcare for working parents. This measure will have little impact on the participation rate and the need to attract knowledge workers to the city as it is targeted incorrectly. Parents of children of all ages require care; particularly those who face a long commute every day. The tax relief for childminders in the home may simply bring more existing childcare workers into the formal economy rather than increase the supply of places.

The capital allocation to transport over the next five years ramps up in successive years, and will be almost a third greater by 2008 then had previously been estimated. The measures announced in Transport 21 will help workers who commute to Dublin, but large capital projects such as the Metro will take time to deliver. All the more reason to provide meaningful relief for childcare now as, based on past performance, the children will be adults by the time the projects are completed.

The broad fiscal position appears sound, although the opportunity to end tax reliefs that have outlived their usefulness has been lost. The only new measure to obtain greater value for money was a measure relating to building contracts for capital projects. What is missing is a sufficient emphasis on value for money in the total government spend of over €50bn in 2006. Whilst there has been progress in developing better rules and procedures for capital spending led by the Department of Finance, what was really needed was an open recruitment process in the public service, particularly for jobs requiring management expertise to deliver infrastructure projects.

In terms of public sector efficiency, the greatest concern the Dublin Chamber has is over decentralisation. There needs to be a review of the Government’s decentralisation proposals, covering issues such as duplication, inefficiency and loss of institutional memory. There is no hard evidence as to how decentralisation will improve the quality of the public service. Whilst it is possible that relocation can provide a spur to the adoption of new business practices, processes and technology, as well as improvements in organisation culture, it is not at all clear that this is the goal of decentralisation or indeed will be an outcome of it.