Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I also join with the my colleagues. I did not know Mr. Hand for very long but I wish him well in his retirement and I am sorry I did not get to know him better. Perhaps he will come in from time to time, take a tour of the House and give the ushers marks out of ten for their performance on the day. I join with my colleagues regarding Senator Norris's receipt of a honorary doctorate in Trinity College, which is not before time.

The Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015 is before the House today and we are taking Committee and Report Stages as far as I am aware. I ask the Leader to reconsider this and schedule Report Stage for some day next week. It is wrong to push legislation like this through so quickly. I do realise that there are people who are depending on the legislation to get their pay rises and I would want to see it passed before Christmas, albeit that I have submitted amendments, all of which have been ruled out of order, which I will discuss at a later stage.

I am deeply concerned by comments this morning from the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council regarding budget 2016. It is something we need to get a grip on. I would hate to see Fine Gael's meteoric rise in the polls achieved on the basis of a purchased election. There are some serious questions to be answered. The economists involved have raised some serious issues around the budget and its expansionary nature. We should have a debate in this House with the relevant Minister to tease out some of them. I am aware that there is a serious issue regarding the price of property, particularly on the east coast. When we couple that with warnings from the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, are we heading down the same miserable route we headed down in the early noughties? It is better for us to put it out in the open, have a debate in here about it and see what emerges from that.