David Norris (Independent)

It is a pleasure to welcome the Minister to the House because, of the two brothers, I have nice things to say to him; I had to be a little firm with his one of his brothers today. It is a pleasure because of the reasonable and balanced nature of what he had to say. Although I sit on this side of the House, he and the other contributors on the Government side convinced me of their argument even though it is a very difficult one indeed and I shall be voting with the Government tonight.

I remember meeting the Minister for Finance, Deputy McCreevy, in the corridor after the last general election. I told him he had been a good Minister for Finance and he had a capacity to be a great one provided he broke every single promise he made during the election campaign. I am glad to see he has started on that, because it is necessary. There is considerable hypocrisy in this place because the last general election was guided by auctioneering principles. I remember when certain parties, which will be nameless, were offering to recoup losses on the Stock Exchange in an effort to buy votes. It is perfectly obvious that cuts have to be made. With wise economic tactics we can get back on track within 18 months. In that circumstance, it is extremely foolish to advocate cuts, but not here or there. In that case where?