Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I am just looking for clarity. I will keep this simple. We were told the House would come back after Christmas to deal with the legislation which arose from the budget. We expected that to be one piece of legislation, namely, the Finance Bill. The Government has now widened that. We have been told four pieces of legislation must be enacted arising from the budget.

In terms of the commitment made before Christmas by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley, and the Taoiseach that the recall of the Dáil after Christmas would be to deal with the legislation arising from the budget, if those four pieces of legislation are enacted, is that it? I understand what the Tánaiste said, that the Government will shove in other legislation here and there, but are they the only four pieces of legislation the Government intends to enact? Can we have a timetable for those four Bills? Last week we were given a draft or indicative timetable for the Finance Bill, which showed that Bill, as I understood it, concluding in the Seanad at the end of February. What is the timetable for the other Bills? The game being played is that we are back dealing with the legislation arising from the budget. Before Christmas it was due to be done by the end of January. When we got the timetable the end of January became the end of February. Then people were told that it would be the end of March and now I understand it is April, so this is being dragged out. It is not just that the general election is being delayed by the Government; the recovery of the country is being delayed by this crowd staying in office well past its sell-by date.

See this speech in context