Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

I second the motion. "A lot done, more to do" was the Fianna Fáil Party's slogan prior to the last election. "A little done, much more to do" was CORI's response to the recent budget. Like a colleague from the other House, I suggest everybody feels done at this stage by this Government, especially people on local authority lists, those trying to buy their first house and the increasing number of homeless people who feel betrayed and abandoned by a Government which has targeted the poor and disadvantaged for cuts in expenditure, rather than the well-off who could bear the burden much more easily.

The cold and callous act of abolishing the first-time buyer's grant last year hit young couples hard. These are young people trying to put a roof over their heads for the first time and start at the bottom of the property ladder and for whom every euro is budgeted for and counts. This heartless, uncaring Government pulled the rug from under them and scuppered their plans to try to provide homes for themselves.