Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)

I have already spoken at length on the delays in the farming grant. The Minister's and Government's decision in that respect is completely unjust and unfair. When the Minister for Finance spoke on this Bill he gave only two lines in a 12-page speech to the issue of farming which gives some idea of his thinking regarding the serious farming crisis. I will leave further comment on that issue to my colleague, Deputy Creed, except to say that banks are putting heavy pressure on farmers. It is clear that if the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has met senior bankers he has not succeeded in spreading the message to the staff in local branches because they are sending out letters seeking urgent decisions on the repayment of the money used for farm buildings.

I want to comment briefly on the early child care support that has been removed by the Government. The support in question makes a significant difference to families, particularly if both parents have lost their jobs and no longer have incomes. It is a useful benefit for those in work who need to pay for child care. The thing that annoys parents the most is the Government's failure to try to close a loophole in the system whereby money leaves this country to support children in other countries. It is completely unfair that people who are living here can claim the early child care support on behalf of children who live in other countries. It is time that aspect of the system was stopped.

The pension levy is unfair. Last August or September, at a time when the Taoiseach was on his holidays and completely ignoring the situation, my party stated that there was a need to curtail some aspects of Government output. The imposition of the pension levy on people who earn less than €15,000 is a complete joke. There is no point in Government Deputies talking about fairness or equity, because they are not evident in this proposal. The levy is to be imposed across the board, regardless of the circumstances of the family of any civil servant. That needs to be changed before we vote on this Bill for the last time tomorrow night. It is hard to tell people who are earning €15,000, or even €30,000, that it is in the country's interest for them to pay this levy. When one considers that the former Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment and her husband, who is a former chairman of FÁS, went on a junket to the United States at a cost of €150,000, one has to ask where this country is going. One can ask people to do things that are good and correct if one is acting in such a matter, but it is not acceptable to ask somebody to take the brunt of a cutback of this nature while one continues to live the high life. We all know what kind of job the Financial Regulator did, but he was given a golden handshake of €630,000 nonetheless. In such circumstances, one has to ask many questions.

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