In this budget, the Minister has tried to apply a sticking plaster to the gaping wounds that have been created by the Book of Estimates and a band aid to the savage cuts that are to be found in all Government Departments, but it will not work. This is not a budget of redemption, but a budget that will cause job losses, perpetuate inequality and do nothing for stay-at-home spouses. It will fail to reform the public service. The Minister's Budget Statement contained an admission that public service employee numbers have increased by about 50,000 in the past five years. What have we to show for the increase? The budget is an acknowledgement of the fact that the Government miserably failed to manage the public finances in its first term.