Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail)

Ba mhaith liom fáilte a chur roimh an Aire freisin. Tá sé tábhachtach go bhfuil an tAire anseo agus nach bhfuil aon teorann ama ar an díospóireacht ar maidin agus ceapaim go cur sin an cás.

Like my colleague, I acknowledge the difficult job the Minister has and all our contributions are made with this in mind. Members appreciate that this is one of the most difficult jobs anyone in Ireland could be asked to do, but they still have fundamental difficulties with the Bill. When my party was in government and the former Minister for Finance, the late Deputy Brian Lenihan, who often was praised, introduced cuts and taxes, they appeared to hit everyone across the board and those who could least afford it paid less, while those who could afford it most paid most. However, Fianna Fáil's fundamental difficulty with the Government's budget and the Social Welfare Bill, in particular, is that they appear to have targeted particular sections of society and recipients of social welfare payments for particularly harsh cuts. This is most unfortunate, is not the way to go and will be absolutely opposed by Fianna Fáil Members.