Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

On behalf of the Labour Party, I too oppose this proposal. In doing so, I take issue with the patronising remarks of the Taoiseach in responding to the words of opposition that were expressed on the previous proposal. He rather patronisingly referred to his willingness to listen to constructive proposals and ideas. He and the Minister for Finance have been getting constructive proposals in regard to this matter for months. The problem is that they are not listening to those proposals. The difficulty we have today is that the Taoiseach and his Government got the country and our economy into this hole in the first place. We do not have confidence that he, his Government and the measures they now propose will get us out of the difficulty we are in. We have been putting forward serious proposals and alternatives for some time. The rather condescending way in which the Taoiseach responded to them in his earlier contribution does not augur at all well for the way in which this debate will be conducted.

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