Brendan Ryan (Labour)

This is an extraordinary budget. Sometimes a Minister can be accused of letting his head rule his heart and other times of letting his heart rule his head. This budget has neither heart nor head. It is heartless.

Let us get the social welfare increases into perspective. A widow is not getting €10 but closer to €7. Only a widow over 66 years of age will get the larger increase. The issue, however, is not social welfare, but the other things that make people's lives a misery such as appalling housing, or the particular philosophy reflected in this chilling document produced by the so-called "three wise men." I emphasise the fact that they are men which is clear from their disapproval of the child care initiative. These three middle aged men talk about child care as something disposable. They talk about reducing further expenditure on housing and about a 50% increase in student university fees which nobody on the Government side has yet discovered. Senator McDowell asked if anyone knew anything about it. It is on the page dealing with education and suggests a rise from €670 to €1,000. Has the Government decided on this?