David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I agree with previous speakers that today is an important day for the people of this State and for the Government. I sincerely hope that today is the day the Government changes course and adopts different policies. I hope it will adopt a position of fairness and that this will be the hallmark of the budget. Many families are struggling and many are paralysed with fear about what the budget might hold. They will be looking to all legislators - all 166 Deputies and 60 Senators - to fairly and properly scrutinise and debate the budget. How is it possible for this House to do that with an allocation of 120 minutes debating time? The Minister will take up ten minutes of that time resulting in 110 minutes of debate, less than two minutes per Senator. It means that fewer than one fifth of the Members of this House will have an opportunity to speak. This is outrageous at a time when people are looking for leadership. We may have disagreements about the tough decisions to be made. However, we are not even allowing for a proper debate. Two hours is not good enough. We are doing an injustice to the people of this State by scheduling only two hours.

I propose an amendment to the Order of Business, that at least four hours' debate be ordered. I will listen to what the Deputy Leader has to say but in my view it is outrageous that not all Members will have an opportunity to speak. We are giving over so little time to what is the biggest issue facing the people of this State today and for the next number of months and years.

I ask the Deputy Leader to agree to allocate more time for today's budget contributions.