Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In the same edition of the Irish Independent, a Labour Party Deputy - somebody who is keeping the Government in office and will probably vote for this budget also - said: "They [Fine Gael] don't care about the ordinary punter ... We're furious." Not furious enough obviously, although we will see next week. I notice that a lot of them are wrestling with their consciences. I have been here a long time and I have often witnessed the spectacle of Labour wrestling with its conscience; it usually wins. Let us hope the trend changes on this occasion.

The old guard in the Labour Party, what some political journalists like to refer to as the grumpy old men, the leadership who are coming up to retirement on massive pensions, seem to be dictating the pace. Their policy can be summed up in one sentence - pensions before principle.

There was an extraordinary story in the Irish Independent on Tuesday, from a Fine Gael source this time.

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