I will finish on a parochial but an important point. The Minister for Finance and his Department reduced the starting salary scale for secretarial assistants working with Deputies and Senators in the Houses of the Oireachtas in October last. This decision was taken, I am told, by the Department of Finance on the basis that it was no longer possible to pay age-related salaries which were deemed to be discriminatory under employment equality legislation. In adjusting the salary scales to reflect his adherence to the employment equality legislation, the Minister fixed the starting salary for secretarial assistants in the Houses of the Oireachtas at €327.82 per week, a massive reduction of €70 for a secretarial assistant on the former starting salary of €398.15 per week.