Brendan Ryan (Labour)

The only difference between the Taoiseach and me is that I discovered socialism when I was 20. It took him until his mid-50s to discover it. Perhaps he will show the zeal of a recent convert. We could have a debate before Christmas on the pre-budget submission of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, the response to which would be a good test of anybody's socialism. It should not be a question of the Government's feeling bad because others feel bad but of doing something about poverty, which is what socialism is about.