Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

We are a small country and unfortunately we are not in a position to dictate to the world yet.

I will deal with a few of the issues mentioned by a number of people. Senator Kelly stated the stamp duty provision would benefit people buying expensive houses. If a tax is changed, whether it is income tax or stamp duty, those who pay more benefit to a slightly greater extent. I was a Minister of State with responsibility for housing for five years and I take the view that the general attitude that the measure has come too late is nonsense. We had to wait until house prices stabilised before anything significant could be done on the stamp duty issue.

If we tried to implement the measure a year ago, people in the market would not have noticed any difference. Any saving would have been added to the price and people would carry on as if there was no difference. We had to watch and wait for an opportunity to deal with the matter. Fine Gael may argue that the measure is the same as what it proposed but it is not. The Fine Gael proposal was to change the stamp duty regime over a three-year period, reducing it by degrees by 2010. This would have resulted in the market stagnating because people would not want to buy in the knowledge that stamp duty would be lower the following year. The change to stamp duty is prudent as are so many other items in the budget. It is necessary to take account of the context. Gross domestic product is expected to grow by 3%, which is less than in other years and we need to take note of that.

A number of people spoke about the lack of atmosphere in the Chamber and that people were not jumping up and down. Some elements of the media try to pretend it is about the performance. If people want a performance they should go to the Abbey or somewhere like that. The budget is a statement taking prudent action on the running of the economy for the next year. The Minister needs to take account of the current situation and not necessarily put on a show.

I believe there is considerable good in the budget. The extra social welfare funding for the needy includes a €14 per week increase for pensioners and a €27 one for those on the qualified adult allowance, which is part of a three-year programme. Older people, usually women over 65 who are qualified adults on their husband's pensions, were very pleased last year and will be very pleased this year that their many years of working in the home is being recognised. They are quickly catching up with the non-contributory rate. Even up to last year I believe the rate for qualified adults was €149. In two years it has increased by €50.