Ned O'Sullivan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

All I have to say about the budget is that, like others, I have been lobbied intensively by various sectoral and interest groups who are worried about cutbacks. Yet, it appears to me that one of the groups facing the most radical cutbacks, in terms of expenses, is ourselves. Perhaps it is time we started to lobby for ourselves and stopped running away from media pressure and to have the courage to stand up for ourselves. I foresee a day when only very wealthy people will be able to take their place in parliament, that is not democracy.

I expressed concern previously in regard to the timescale for the report of the boundary commission for local elections. There is growing concern about the issue. The previous Dáil took more than two years to bring forward its report. Given that in each Dáil constituency there are four to six electoral areas to be considered, there is a serious crunching on time. I ask that the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Phil Hogan, come to the House with an interim report on progress on the boundary commission. Unlike in the old days when a Minister could order local elections to be deferred for a year, that would now be a matter for a constitutional referendum and I am sure nobody would look forward to yet another referendum.

I call for a debate on gang criminality in major urban centres, particularly Dublin. There is no doubt Dublin is beginning to resemble the Chicago of Al Capone's time with shootings every second day. I am not so concerned about criminals shooting themselves, which is regrettable, but I am concerned at the images going out from the capital city and the "Love-Hate" programme, which does not glamorise the thugs, is getting an image for Dublin based on that criminality. Whether the Garda need more powers is a matter for debate. Frankly, the image of the capital city is diminishing rapidly.