Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Below-cost selling has not been tackled in the budget. This is causing great difficulty in the industry and should be looked at prior to Christmas because it is quite evident the major supermarkets are involved in below-cost selling of alcohol, which leads to other social problems and should be tackled. There was no reason for it not to be tackled in the budget.

There is no plan to restore the full free electricity or free phone rental allowances. It would be very welcome to backtrack when it comes to these issues. The free phone rental was a wonderful scheme devised by the late Charles Haughey and it was welcomed by everyone. That was not restored in this budget.

Adding 40 cents to the price of a packet of 20 cigarettes is fine. Everyone who is anti-smoking would agree with that measure. Customs and Excise and the Garda will have to be funded and geared up to prevent further smuggling of illegal cigarettes into the country, which is depriving the Revenue Commissioners of a considerable amount of badly needed money.

The prescription charge, the abolition of which the Minister, Deputy Reilly, promised in the general election in 2011, has been increased to €2.50. This is a significant charge.

On teacher numbers, additional teachers are appointed where there is an increase in the number of pupils, but four teacher schools will be reduced to three teachers, three teacher ones to two and two teacher ones to one if there is no change, which there has not been, in the pupil-teacher ratio.

Borrowing to pay for this budget, which is a fact, has to be paid for. One would get the impression that somehow the country was not borrowing billions per annum to pay for the loans. One would think the country had reached a stage where we were earning additional money that could be given out. So be it. That is politics. I welcome the retention of the 9% VAT rate.

The point is last Saturday was a wake-up call. I do not know if there will be a general election before the next budget - possibly not. This certainly was an election budget. There is no doubt about that. On Friday, the Government parties got the biggest shock-----