John Ellis (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)

The debate on the Estimates gives us the opportunity to examine a number of matters in respect of which money is being provided. In 2007, €54 billion will be spent by various Government agencies and Departments and this is comprised of €47 billion in current expenditure and €7.6 billion in capital expenditure. These are the sort of amounts that many of us who were Members of the Houses upwards of 20 years ago never dreamed would be available to deal with certain of the country's problems.

It would be easy for Members to talk for an hour about any of the headings contained in the Estimates.

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