Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

The arrangement for the budget is already very tight. It will be presented on 9 December, leaving only one sitting day in that week and one further week before the House rises for the Christmas. Given the likely controversial nature of the social welfare Bill's contents, is it the Government's intention to dispose of the budget and also enact the social welfare Bill before Christmas? It would not be acceptable to the Labour Party to have the budget and the social welfare Bill concertinaed together and dealt with before Christmas. I hope the Government's thinking in this regard will be changed. If it is not, we will have a very unChristmas-like atmosphere in the period immediately after the budget.

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