James Bannon (Fine Gael)

However, this budget is far from a giveaway and the tight purse strings across a full range of Government spending is concealed beneath the whole facade. There is evidence of this in several areas. Far be it from me to suggest that the Minister for Finance is finding the Department of Finance to be foreign territory, but it is essential that he recognises that our economy is entering another period of rapid growth and the mistakes of his predecessor must not be repeated. Last year's budget relied heavily for its impact on the announcement of decentralisation, another pre-election promise which hit the dust last week.