Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

Yesterday, I asked the Tánaiste if she could tell the House the date of the budget and she was not able to do so. Can I ask the Minister to give the House even an indicative date for the 2011 budget?

I also asked the Tánaiste about the date of the resumption of the Dáil after the end of the summer recess and she said the Government had not made any decision about when the Dáil would resume. I listened to the Minister's reply to the question put by Deputy Kenny about the arrangements for dealing with any extension of the bank guarantee, in which he said he did not feel that legislation would be required but that some rolling over may have to be done. "Rolling over" is the operative term as it describes the Government's relationship with the banks. He suggested that it might be done by way of secondary legislation.

In whatever form it is done, the extension of the bank guarantee is a matter that should be brought before the House before any commitments are made. This is a major issue. I do not know whether the Minister is intending to communicate that an item of secondary legislation to extend the bank guarantee will be prepared during the summer recess and that the House will not have an opportunity of debating it until it is all done and dusted. If the Government is intending to extend the bank guarantee in any way, the proposal should be brought before the House. Therefore, we need to know the sitting arrangements for the summer. We now know the House will rise on 8 July. It appears from what the Minister has said that he does not intend to introduce any proposal on the bank guarantee before 8 July. We do not know when the House will resume. The guarantee will run out on 30 September. We need some clarity on this.

On St. Patrick's Day 2009, in an interview with the Financial Times, the Minister promised new legislation to crack down on crony capitalism in Ireland. He said he would be proposing these measures to the Cabinet the following week. What has happened to that legislation?

The Labour Party has been conducting a review of the various cutbacks that are taking place in all kinds of services, often in ways that do not get newspaper headlines. There have been cutbacks in medical cards, supplementary welfare allowance, jobseeker's benefit, jobseeker's allowance, home help allowance, the home care package and so on.

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