Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the debate on the budget later this afternoon and on the Finance Bill when that comes to the House. It would be remiss of me if I did not mention the budget in light of comments made by Senators on the Opposition side. I welcome the budget, which was a brave and decisive step taken by the Minister for Finance in challenging economic times. If an alternative Government had been in place which proposed to increase spending by €14 billion in the 2007 general election——