TAXPAYERS were dealt a blow yesterday with news they will no longer be able to claim relief on trade union subscriptions and eventually on rent.

TAXPAYERS could save €250 million building a much shorter motorway which would link Limerick and Cork, a Bord Pleanála oral hearing has been told.

TAXPAYERS will not take much comfort from yesterday’s warning from NAMA that they could end up facing a loss of €800m by the time the bad bank is wound up in 10 years’ time.

TAXPAYERS will pay for the upfront cost of establishing the National Asset Management Agency but ultimately the Government hopes that all monies will be recouped from the banks and property developers.

TAXPAYERS face having to fork out hundreds of millions of euro in compensation after billionaire Denis O’Brien yesterday claimed a tribunal will rule he was awarded a mobile phone contract “illegally”.

TAXPAYERS are owed nearly €50 million from companies that have evaded paying their redundancy debts, the state’s financial watchdog last night warned.

TAXPAYERS will be protected from having to cough up for unpaid loans and bad debts owed to Anglo Irish Bank when it goes into public ownership, the Government assured yesterday.

TAXPAYERS funded the major political parties to the tune of almost €12 million last year.

TAXPAYERS forked out €250,000 for the Morris Tribunal to force a TD to name a whistle blower who had already made himself known to the inquiry, it was claimed last night.

TAXPAYERS will have to fork out at least €70,000 for the Advantica report commissioned by the Government into the safety of the proposed controversial Shell onshore gas pipeline in north Mayo.

TAXPAYERS could be forced to pay out over €65 million each year as a result of the Government’s ill-conceived decentralisation programme, according to one of the country’s leading civil service unions.

TAXPAYERS will have to pay €4 million for a hotel which has been unoccupied since it was purchased by the State four-and-a-half years ago to be used as an asylum seeker centre.

TAXPAYERS were yesterday warned to examine their tax records immediately to avoid missing out on refunds for expenses such as medical bills, third level college fees, non-routine dental treatment and private rented accommodation costs.

TAXPAYERS may have to pay the €1.1 million repair bill for damage caused to a US Navy plane at Shannon by a peace activist.

TAXPAYERS will be asked to fork out “a quantum leap” in funding for universities in the near future after Education Minister Noel Dempsey firmly ruled out the re-introduction of third-level fees last night.

TAXPAYERS will have to foot an €8,000 bill spent on a helicopter and other aircraft used in the search for a big cat reportedly on the loose near the Border.

TAXPAYERS have paid almost €500,000 to 20 TDs and senators for being on leave of absence from teaching, on top of their Oireachtas salaries, in the last five years.

TAXPAYERS should be given the right to appeal the size of penalties imposed by the Revenue, the Law Reform Commission believes.

TAXPAYERS will have to cough up €3.26 billion by 2007 just to meet the latest generous pay increases being planned for the country’s civil servants, a top economist has warned.

TAXPAYERS have paid out €85m to legal firms representing soldiers in army deafness cases.

TAXPAYERS forked out close to €500,000 last year to relocate supergrasses who gave State evidence to convict criminal accomplices.

TAXPAYERS are footing the insurance bills of a group of hospital consultants working in private hospitals.