The Irish government plans to make budget cuts of €6 billion next year to try to reduce the country's deficit.
It hopes the move will cut the deficit to 9.25%-9.5% GDP.
The goverment has a target of €15 billion in cuts by 2014 to reduce the deficit to 3% of GDP.
It said savings would be made through spending cuts and tax rises and would have an impact on the living standards of all.
Finance Minister Brian Lenihan said the cuts underlined the strength of the government's resolve to show that the country is serious about tackling its public finance difficulties.
A number of countries have announced measures to reduce budget deficits that rose dramatically during the economic downturn, most notably Greece and the UK.
