Dan Boyle (Green Party)

I am not seeking extra-constitutional power for this House, nor am I asking that we reverse the financial provisions decided on in the other House. I have made the point that the Bill contains these provisions and commented on how they have been responded to by other parties represented in this House.

I welcome the overall expenditure provided for in the Bill. In the middle of very difficult financial times where we are still borrowing significant sums of money, in excess of €20 billion, we are allocating approximately €53 billion to meet the cost of running the State. When we take into account the €4 billion adjustment we have had to make in budget 2010, the reality is we are raising approximately €32 billion by taxation and borrowing approximately €20 billion.

The political debate we have been having has been on the smallest scale of the moneys we are currently spending in the State. What is important about the Appropriation Bill which we have the opportunity to discuss in the House and which perhaps the other House does not take as seriously as it should is what is happening with the vast bulk of money being allocated and how is it being spent. I would like to see this House develop that competence even more, even though we are restricted in our constitutional role from doing so to a greater extent.