John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

The primary reason we have a surplus this year is that the tax bands were not increased in line with inflation by the Minister last year though he promised they would be. We have a surplus this year because another promise was broken by the Government in the last budget. Members opposite should not pat themselves on the back and contend that they are great fellows for having €500 million extra when that money came out of taxpayers' pockets.