Environment The environment was not mentioned at all by the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, in his Budget speech yesterday.

Nor were there any measures with a specifically environmental focus in the tax changes he announced.

Mr McCreevy did not provide even a brief report on what progress is being made, if any, on the promised introduction of carbon taxes in next year's budget - mainly because it is the subject of continuing strife within the Cabinet.

No "eco-taxes" of any kind were announced, not even to support the sale of cars and other vehicles with lower carbon dioxide emissions, even though road transport is the fastest-growing contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.

Property developers and investors will take comfort from the extension of urban renewal tax reliefs to 2006, as they had feared that an earlier withdrawal would undermine prospects of renewal in areas such as Ballymun.

The replacement of year-to-year budget allocations for major projects with multi-annual capital investment "envelopes" will benefit the Department of the Environment's water and sewerage projects as well as the roads programme. But there was no indication from Mr McCreevy that any Exchequer funding would be provided for major public transport projects, such as the mooted metro line between Dublin Airport and the city centre. That will have to depend on private money.