Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

There is no suggestion of abolishing them but why has the Government asked every household in the country to pay €4,000 extra in taxation? Why has the Government only been able to give €20 a week to people who have had to pay such money in extra tax? The Government has become soft and comfortable, it does not heed waste or value for money in public spending and that is why people have to pay these huge sums.

The major problem in today's budget is that is does not face up to the deeper challenges we all face. We must make real changes to deliver improvements at the front line in public services. The Minister for Finance said today that we will not see any performance indicators on the vast sums of money he spends every year until 2007, but that is too late. The Government will be in office for ten years before it starts to publish performance indicators for the money people must pay.

We have not addressed the needs of the competitive business sector that is finding it difficult to survive at the cutting edge. Exports and manufacturing are falling. These should have been the subject of today's budget but we have remained silent on them.

I welcome the fact that we are talking about plans for children and older people, but should we not be looking back on a decade of achievement in the needs of children and older people instead of coming belatedly to the issue?

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