Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

There are many people at home watching the proceedings of this House this afternoon and they are doing so because they are hurting. They are hurting due to people losing jobs, businesses going to the wall and all of the bad news that is being inflicted upon them as a result of all we have seen.

This House has been closed down for long enough this summer and it is about time that we got on with the business we were elected and sent here to do. There is a time and place for parliamentary stunts. We want to get on with the business that we are here to do.

We are about to embark on a debate on what is probably the most serious economic measure ever brought before this House since independence and we should get on with it. We will disagree with it but attempts to disrupt the holding of this sitting for which we have been waiting since July last should be ceased. We should get on with the business.

Let us have the arguments during the course of the debate. We will argue with it. I have my point of view. The Labour Party has its point of view. The members of my party want to have the opportunity of expressing that point of view. They want to communicate to this House the many things that they have been hearing over the past number of weeks from people all over this country. The people have sent us here to express that and we should waste no more time and get on with the business of the House.

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