WE ALL KNOW by now that USC and upper tax bands changed, Child Benefit went up, and cigarettes hit €10 for the first time.

But, in both Finance Minister Michael Noonan and Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin’s speeches, there were some measures that may have slipped by.

Here are some:

• €1.6 billion for jobs programmes. This includes a doubling of those on the wage subsidy scheme JobsPlus, €450 million in capital funding for job creation and €260 million for research and development.
• €25 million to tackle late discharges from hospitals
• €2.3 billion for prescription medicine subsidies and €3 billion for older and disabled people
• €530 million on capital projects in schools
• €35 million to improve child detention services
• A special €100 million structural fund for the Border, Midlands and Western region
• €14 million in aid for Syria, €10 million for Palestine and €16 million for Sierra Leone and Liberia, as part of a €600 million foreign aid budget
• An increased budget for Defence, that will see the Naval Service replace old vessels
• A strategy to harness Ireland’s “ocean wealth”

Keep up with all of our Budget coverage here