Mr. Fergus Finlay:

If I was asked to put a bottom line in a sentence, I would echo what was said by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. Every Member of the Dáil and the Seanad should take a type of Hippocratic oath at budget time not to make matters worse. Do not do any more harm than has been done. If I was given the liberty of having a second bottom line, I would ask people to look at the services that are increasingly starved of funds. These are State services, as well as voluntary services. The Dáil is debating legislation to establish the Child and Family Agency. Before that agency is established in law, it has been obliged to cut its budget. It has been set up without enough money to do the job it has been set up to do. Already, before the law has even been passed, it has had to cut its budget. It is crazy to establish a child and family agency with specific tasks and not to give it enough money to carry out the most basic of these tasks. However, my bottom line is not to make anything worse. Things are bad enough.