Cuts to the Universal Social Charge in next month’s budget won’t be as dramatic as promised in the general election.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan says most of the money available will be used for public services because that’s what the electorate voted for.

Just around €300 million will be available for tax cuts and Minister Noonan says that won’t allow him do too much: ““I’m saying that because of the arrangement, despite available resources, on a 2:1 basis, between tax and expenditure, if only a third of the resources are available for tax reductions, what can be delivered is small enough.

“You can do the math yourself, there’s about a billion available, take a third of it (for tax cuts).”