Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)

I join Senator Fitzgerald in asking for a series of debates on the pre-budget submissions. Yesterday's edition of The New York Times had a very good piece opposite the editorial page which suggested that the tooth fairy is dead and we are now engaging in a period of root canal politics. It was a very good piece of journalism because many unpalatable choices are being faced and will not be easy for people to digest. Last night we had the manifestation of the public's anger at the Government's failed policy. While I do not support violence or thuggery, the people have a right to vent their frustration. Just because we live in a bubble inside Leinster House does not mean we should lose our sense of reality. Hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens are struggling faoi bhrú under pressure every day, some of it made by themselves but the majority made by bad economic decisions taken by Government. It is important for the Members opposite to recognise that cutbacks hurt the old, the poor, the handicapped and the sick. Fianna Fáil used a similar slogan in 1987. In 2010 it is absolutely relevant to the ordinary people.