Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I gathered as much from the reports over the weekend. The well-informed sources reported in the newspapers were obviously better informed than the House. There is one normal sitting day after Wednesday, 9 December, which is usually taken up by speeches from the Taoiseach and other party leaders in response to the budget. That leaves one week before Christmas to debate the budget. This is a very short period of time in which a budget can be debated. It is particularly short given the advance billing this particular budget is getting. The current date for the House to rise is 17 December. Are there plans to change the number of days we sit before Christmas in order that the House would at least have a reasonable opportunity to debate the budget? This has all the hallmarks of getting the budget done as close as possible to Christmas and out of here as fast as possible in order that people will forget what is in it.

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