Donie Cassidy (Fianna Fail)

——both old and young, whom we are all proud to represent here as Members of the Upper House.

It has been said in the House that we will not be debating budgetary or financial issues. We had a debate last Wednesday evening when Fianna Fáil allocated its Private Members' time, and extended it by one hour to allow colleagues express their views on the budget. Both the social welfare Bill and the Finance Bill will be published and debated in the House before Christmas. As I have already outlined, the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney, will be in the House to debate the issue of health. I will also endeavour to have the Minister for Education and Science in the House, when he returns with the Taoiseach from the trade mission in China, to discuss matters pertaining to education.

On education, an extra €302 million was allocated in the budget to bring the spend on education up to €9.6 billion. Those are the facts. In framing a budget the Government faced a serious difficulty in terms of choices. However, the increase in the Department of Education and Science allocation reflects the Government's commitment to prioritising investment in the sector in very difficult economic circumstances. There has been an increase of €302 million for the Department of Education and Science.