Key schemes suffer in gloomy estimates

THE Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment’s spending potential was increased by just under 3% to €1.427 billion in the pre-budget estimates for 2008.

However, a number of key schemes did suffer compared with the estimates predicted for 2007.

One of the most notable is capital spending for FÁS which was cut by more than 50% from €25 million to €12.5 million.