A group called Citizens Against Budget 2000 was founded in Dublin last night.
At a meeting in Trinity College, called by Women in the Home, the new group said the £3,000 tax allowance for carers in the home, announced yesterday by the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, was a "patch on a mess".
Among the speakers was Ms Jane Clare, who said she and her husband, Prof Anthony Clare, were taking legal advice on the possibility of taking a constitutional action against the provisions of last week's Budget.
Ms Norah Gilligan, chairwoman of Women in the Home, said a petition against the Budget would be circulated in every constituency. She called on "all citizens to withhold their vote at the next election from any party or individual who supported the divisive and discriminatory provisions of the Budget".
Ms Breda O'Brien, a journalist with the Sunday Business Post, said the allowance for single-income families where one partner remained in the home in a caring capacity would initially be worth half what dual-income families were being promised in the Budget and would, in three years, be worth one tenth of dual-income families' allowances.
About 200 people attended the meeting, which was chaired by Sunday Times columnist and editor of the Irish Catholic, Mr David Quinn.
Ms Gilligan said she hoped the message would go out from the meeting "that the panic offer of a £3,000 tax allowance in no way delivers the parity we seek."
She said her organisation had no difficulty in supporting a mother's right to a career outside the home, but "she should also have the right to a career in the home." Ms O'Brien said the campaign transcended ideological divisions. "That is why Charlie McCreevy just doesn't get it. The reason Charlie just doesn't get it is that this is not about money. This is about the value we place on children and the value we place on those who perform the vital unpaid work which holds our society together."
The National Women's Council of Ireland last night joined in the condemnation of the new allowance for spouses in the home, claiming it failed to address criticism over the level of State support for childcare provided in the budget.
The NWCI chairwoman, Ms Grainne Healy, said the Minister for Finance had sought to defuse the furore over last week's budgetary tax concessions for double-income households in the narrowest manner possible.
