Dan Boyle (Green Party)

I accept the need to bring forward the Finance Bill to the earliest opportunity. Perhaps this could be before the Christmas recess, afterwards or we could have co-operation in both Houses to have a shorter Christmas recess to deal with the important issues at hand. It is to be hoped the publication of today's plan is the start of a process that will reassure international sentiment. I disagree with Senator O'Toole's point about the Budget Statement and the passing of a Finance Bill. The budget is the Finance Bill and, until it passes, we cannot consider ourselves out of the woods. The current situation is complicated by many international factors, including the state of other countries' economies and the fact that the strengths in our economy are being ignored. Today's debate will be helpful. The comments of the leader of the main Opposition party in the other House yesterday were particularly helpful in this regard. That is the nature of the debate we need to have. It is about making the decisions that have to be made now; we can then turn to the issue of the future governance of the country.