Liam Twomey (Fine Gael)

Given the dreadful economic and weather conditions and the fact that we are less than a week away from what will be the harshest budget in the history of the State, I will break from my usual format of criticising this dreadful Government and speak only about positive matters. Last night I had reason to ring a number of people in County Wexford which has seen the most dreadful snowfall in decades and was surprised by the number who were not at home. When I rang them on their mobile phones, I discovered they were helping their friends and neighbours by calling in on them, doing their shopping and looking after farm animals. We should commend everyone who is doing this during these dreadful weather conditions.