Michael Kennedy (Dublin North, Fianna Fail)

Táim buíoch as ucht an deis seo labhairt ar an mBille tábhachtach seo. I welcome the opportunity to speak during this important debate. I welcome the Minister's changes to the universal service charge for medical card holders. It was not just the Independent Deputies who had representations; we all had them. I acknowledge that the Minister has dealt with this in a satisfactory manner.

I will make a brief reference to section 23 properties. Deputies will have received many representations from ordinary people on this matter, and I believe a review is necessary. There are those who say the section 23 provisions were for big builders and developers, and there were certainly some of those, but I have been contacted by quite a number of ordinary people who invested in such properties, including schoolteachers, doctors, gardaí and nurses. They saw it as a means of providing a pension for themselves later in life.

I would have liked the Minister to deal with approved retirement funds, ARFs. From this year the assumed annual drawdown on which people will be liable for tax is 5%, rather than 3% as it was previously. Given the low level of investment returns at the moment, many people have contacted me to suggest that a drawdown of 5% per year will effectively deplete their funds in slightly over 20 years. I do not think it is in the national interest that people who have provided for their own private pensions will effectively become dependent on the State after 20 years. I would like to see a review of that.

I wish Deputy McCormack and all Deputies who are retiring well. I hope they will have the opportunity to say a few words in this Chamber before they retire, but much will depend on the actions of the Opposition. The last week has not been a good one for politics. We hear a lot of talk about Oireachtas reform, and I agree with that, but the first reform I would like to see is a bit of honesty in the House and less play-acting. Everybody outside the House agrees that the passing of the budget is necessary not just because they believe the State should provide for its finances but, more importantly, because our friends in Europe and the IMF have told us we need to bring in a budget and implement the four year recovery plan which has been agreed with them. They certainly want us, as a Parliament, to institute that.

It is inevitable, and it is accepted on all sides of the House, that there will be a change of Government and that Fine Gael and the Labour Party will form the next Government. The onus is on them today to make sure the budget is passed. I do not think it is reasonable that three Independents should be the fall guys if this budget fails. The leader of Fine Gael, Deputy Kenny, who will possibly be the new Taoiseach, is here today. I am saying to him that if the Opposition Deputies want to have any credibility and if they have any respect for the people of Ireland, they will make sure the budget is passed today. It is ridiculous for them to say "Yes, of course it should be passed", and then not make sure it is passed. I suggest that the only reason they want the Fianna Fáil minority Government to pass it is that they can go out on the streets and blame Fianna Fáil for the budget provisions. Deputy Kenny would then be able to come back in a month's time as Taoiseach, say that Fine Gael is not to blame for the budget provisions as it was not in government at the time, and then bring in supplementary budgets. It is ridiculous to talk for years about guillotining debates and then write out of the script issues such as bankers' bonuses, which everybody in this Chamber has talked about, because we have a deadline to complete our business by Friday. That is dishonest. I am asking Deputy Kenny, the probable future Taoiseach-----

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