Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I listened to my colleague, Senator MacSharry, who made some relevant comments on the budget and I am sure that the Minister of State will respond to them. I was, however, struck by his comments versus those of his colleague in the Dáil, who engaged in what I would call the most ridiculous rant I have ever heard in my life, suggesting to the older people of Ireland that they could not rest easy in their beds after this Government had finished with them today.

I would like to deal with one or two issues raised about the bereavement grant. I practised as a solicitor. As Senator MacSharry's colleague pointed out, this was introduced by a Fianna Fáil Government in the 1990s when it was buying votes in each successive budget with this type of nonsense measure. They were layers of an onion, one upon the next, and the next, with absolutely no economic rationale to support them whatsoever.