Labhrás Ó Murchú (Fianna Fail)

We all are well aware of that anxiety because we live in the community and would have spoken to many people. I would not have expected any less from the Taoiseach because he is an honourable and decent man.

I honestly do not think we are helping the situation by trying to demonise any side. It is quite clear we have a very difficult economic situation with which to contend. We knew it the night we sat for 23 hours to deal with a guarantee of €400 billion to the banks. We all knew full well that the difficulty existed.

I do not subscribe to the concept of universality when it comes to public service. If we have any little bit of socialist conscience left at all, we must look at the most vulnerable people.

Some of these were anxious, and that is quite true. Senator Fitzgerald is quite correct. It must have been a sad situation this morning to have met 300 or 400 people who were genuinely worried.