Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I join the Deputy in expressing my sympathy and sadness and that of the Government and Labour Party on the death of Mr. Paul Barry who served us so well in the Houses for so many years. Paul was a man who showed great courtesy and offered great assistance to all of us and we are saddened this morning to hear of his passing. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

The budget introduced by the Government protected those on the lowest incomes. For the first time in a number of years, it did not increase income tax on working people. It did not cut the basic rates of social welfare payments, as the Government of which the Deputy was a member had done. It removed more than 300,000 of those on the lowest level of pay to whom that Government had applied the universal social charge from that charge. This was done in addition to the decision to restore the national minimum wage to the level that had pertained before the Government of which the Deputy was a member cut it.

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