Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)

Indeed. She is certainly welcome.

The prospect of a property tax has certainly put fear into people's hearts. The feedback I get is that there will not be enough places in jail for the number of people willing to go there if a property tax is introduced now.

It is very important that we start the pre-budget debate on how to find the €3 billion. The Minster for Social Protection should pursue the misappropriation and abuse of social welfare, which is estimated at 10%. Ten per cent of €20 billion is €2 billion, and even if we got half that amount of money, it would go a long way towards resolving our problems. We also have 5,000 people working in the HSE without any job description, and it is time to pension them off.

I offer my sympathies and commiserate with the family of Dermot Early. He held the highest office in the Defence Forces.