John Gerard Hanafin (Fianna Fail)

It was in this House that I learned about the candidate for the Louisiana state governorship who, having won the election, was asked by one of the people who reported on it how he managed to get elected. He said his philosophy was: don't tax you, don't tax me, tax the guy behind the tree. In a perfect world no one would need to be taxed but by the very next election that governor was out of office because he had misled the people.

It is impossible for us as elected representatives not to put forward concrete proposals. I commend those in this House who put forward proposals that are positive, make sense and are not ladened with phrases like those of Private Frazer in "Dad's Army" who said, "We are doomed" but with positive suggestions as to how we can deal with our crisis.

Not everyone did badly during the Depression in the 1930s. A total of 25% had no cushion. They did terribly badly but those who had work did very well because there was significant deflation. If one had an income one could buy much more with one's money.

In terms of people with public sector pensions, and I am thinking particularly about those at the top end who are on significant sums and who, even with a 10% cut, would not notice any difference in their net income because of deflation, surely that is an area we should examine.