John Dennehy (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

I note a new pattern continuing from last year whereby votes on the budget are avoided, as was the case last Wednesday. This is unprecedented but it probably indicates a certain strength in the budget in that it is difficult to argue against it.

There has been a disturbing effort by the Opposition to avoid discussion in the House on the budget. I regard this as a worrying trend. The Members opposite will forgive me if I refer occasionally to their time in office, purely for comparison purposes. The only way the effectiveness and the benefit of this budget can be measured is by reference to the past.

Deputy Crawford is usually a man who is a rock of common sense, but last night he scolded some of my colleagues who had spoken earlier in the day for, as he said, going on about the good things in the Bill. I suggest the Deputy should get real, so to speak. A total of 1.5 million people have benefited from the greatest package ever in the history of the State and, according to the Deputy, we are not supposed to talk about it. He carried on nit-picking, but I am sorry to break the sad news in his absence that I will continue along the same lines.

The only way to measure the contents is by comparison. I refer to the most recent Cabinet in which the Opposition participated and compare it with this Government's achievements, particularly with reference to the budget and this Bill. As Deputy Perry stated, these are the main issues for the year. When I made such comparisons in the past, I was shouted at on one or two occasions and that upset me——

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