John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

I do not often disagree with my colleague, Senator Ned O'Sullivan, but I must do so on some of his points today. I wholeheartedly agree that any abuse of bank officials in their work or on the street is unacceptable but the Irish people have shown extraordinary forbearance in the past six to 12 months in light of the economic position that has developed in the country. If Senator O'Sullivan believes people are showing too much anger, perhaps he should get out a little more and talk to them. They are being extraordinarily understanding of some of the decisions that his friends in government made over the past eight years that have brought us to the pass at which we are now.

I agree with Senator Boyle about changes to the budgetary process. He spent years in the other House talking about how the process should be changed. Now, however, he is in a position to do something about it. Fine Gael has produced alternative budgets for the past three years and brought forward numerous proposals, none of which has been listened to by the Government. It was interesting to hear Senator Ormonde and others on the Government side speak about confrontational politics. They want to listen to the Opposition now that they have made a hames of everything. They did not listen to us for the past seven years when we had constructive proposals, especially for dealing with the excessive reliance of the economy on the property sector. I even recall the Taoiseach, when Minister for Finance, laughing from the ministerial chair in the Chamber at Opposition Senators who warned about the difficulties in the property market. I will not be lectured to by Senator Ormonde on this or any other issue.

I join colleagues in expressing disappointment with the lack of debate in the House since the return from the recess and that it will sit for two half days again this week. I propose an amendment to the Order of Business concerning school transport, a small but significant issue for the families concerned. For the past 18 months I have asked the Leader for a debate on the allocation of catchment areas in the school transport scheme. In my part of County Kilkenny it is a significant issue because the areas have not been revised since the 1960s. It is time they were revised because many families throughout the country are undergoing hardship as a result. Why can this issue not be debated after Private Members' business is concluded?