At the end of the day the general public will see this for what it is. Deputy O'Rourke referred earlier to a Labour party member who does not support this motion. This shows that the Fine Gael and Labour parties, which for some time have been putting themselves forward as an alternative Government, are poles apart when it comes to devising policies. One wonders what type of mess the country would be in if they were given responsibility for returning our economy to stability, a task with which the current Government is dealing well. Neither of those parties has put forward any good or credible solutions.

Many local authorities are now controlled by the Fine Gael and Labour parties. This motion may be another cheap effort or stunt to remove the pressure from their councillors who must take tough action in terms of their budgets. Politicians must act responsibly. This motion does the opposite. We are all aware of the constraints on businesses, in particular small businesses, in our constituencies. Coming from a Border county I am aware of the extra constraints on businesses in that region. A little over a year ago, the Tánaiste aided by the Minister of State, Deputy Kelleher, undertook a study of the difference in the cost of running business either side of the Border. That study identified that difference to be approximately 40%. A lot of work has been done-----

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