Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)

Excuse me, she was the lady of the manor sitting on the horse. As Senator McFadden noted, the problem with respite care is the limited number of places. I know people in Cork who can only get a week of respite care here and there. Senator McDonald spoke about the Government's social conscience but where is it to be found in this section?

The Minister noted that the State is great at paying back the utility companies but, at the risk of being contentious, perhaps the ESB and Bord Gáis should be made to wait. Perhaps that would be wrong, however. In the several years that he has been sitting around the Cabinet table, electricity and gas prices have increased significantly. Medical costs are increasing even while health allowances are being cut. We are now discussing carers and the vulnerable people for whom they care. These people are infirm and ill or have special needs. They depend on the State to provide them with services. These are the people who need us most. Our Constitution makes special reference to them. I do not wish to be repetitive but I am here on behalf of the people and I will speak all night if need be because this section mounts a callous attack on the people who need us.

We will not see the disabled protesting at the gates of Leinster House as the students have done. They will not be there with the People Before Profit Alliance or the new united left alliance, with is supposedly on the side of the people even though its economic policies are unbelievably scary. Those groups have to be exposed.

I stand here on behalf of gnáth daoine, the ordinary people, who need us as their social conscience and voice of reason. These are the people with whom I grew up or met every summer on the wheelchair holiday with the COPE foundation. They are the people who did not have a voice for themselves. They cheered when the Government granted them huge increases. The other day I met a woman in Ballyphehane who is voting for Fianna Fáil. She told me she could not vote against Deputy Bertie Ahern because of all the money he put into her pension. If we take this as an extension in a different way of the position taken by that lady, we are doing the opposite now. We are devaluing people and creating a new class. I do not believe the Minister wants to do this as I have heard him speak on radio and read his speech. I will listen to and argue with him regarding reform of the welfare state because I am very passionate about this issue.