Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)

People are struggling to pay their mortgages. Some are paying their mortgages with credit cards and the houses of others are being repossessed. There are people with no hope. It is the job of Government to govern and it is my job to represent the people who elected me to this House and I will do that without fear or favour. I expect Government to govern. We on this side of the House have offered the hand of cross-party support to tackle unemployment and the growing economic difficulties and we have made it meaningful. This Government has yet to acknowledge that we were the only party to put forward a costed budget prior to its budget.