Donie Cassidy (Fianna Fail)

Senators Fitzgerald, O'Toole, Bacik, Boyle, Hannigan, Callely, Harris, Ó Brolcháin, Mullen and Hanafin all expressed views on the budget. We will have the budget debate immediately after the Order of Business until 3 p.m. I also wish to inform the House that the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Calleary, will give a progress report to the House next week on the Croke Park agreement. I look forward to this debate because it concerns one of the most crucial aspects of what is happening and much depends on the success of the agreement.

Senators Leyden, Ó Brolcháin, Mullen, Hanafin, Mooney, Cummins, Wilson, Glynn and O'Sullivan all expressed their serious concern about Dáil and Seanad reform. Never was it more obvious than yesterday, and today, why Seanad Éireann should be retained. It is the protector of the taxpayer and a House in which debates on Bills are not guillotined. The discussion on the budget was guillotined many times yesterday in the Dáil and today the debate on the Social Welfare Bill will be guillotined. That is dictatorship in itself. The protector of the taxpayer-----