Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

Far from the accolades the Government was bestowing on itself because there was no vote on the budget, the debate was truncated and there was no opportunity for a vote. That is also the case in this debate.

Government Deputies have been patting themselves on the back but what about the motorist? The motorist now contributes €4 billion per annum in tax without including the proceeds from new toll roads. To what extent does he get value for the money he puts into the economy?

People mentioned tax relief for spouses in the home, which is inadequate in terms of any sort of recognition. There are spouses of either gender who have given up their careers to look after the household and they get no recognition for the contribution they make to society on an ongoing basis.

Government Deputies get goose pimples when they hear decentralisation being mentioned. This is no surprise because it was the core of the 2004 budget when there was a competition between Government Deputies about who could announce it the quickest, but it has turned out to be a damp squib. The homework has not been done. The budget was weak and this was thrown onto the wagon as it passed to soften up the public in the run-up to the local elections, but it simply did not work. There is nothing wrong with the concept of decentralisation but this was done in a daft way.

I have not seen debates on stallions get people so agitated for many years. Stallions are sensitive animals but they are quite capable of giving account of themselves. The incentives were given to encourage owners of such animals to come into the country and improve the quality of the racehorse industry. That has happened and any changes in the area will have an impact. It is just as easy for those people to locate their horses in Newmarket or similar places. They do not have to keep the horses here. I support equity but, just like other industries we support, if we hammer them just because they appear to be doing well, we could pay a price in the long term.

There are some positives in the Finance Bill, which merely gives the imprimatur to the budget. Unfortunately, it was much ado about nothing. It was not an election budget and this is not an election Finance Bill. I am sorry the Government could not come up with something better.

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