Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is important that there be honesty regarding the budget to be announced next week. It will not be a giveaway budget; the Minister has said this, but the priority at our end is to protect the fragile economy, continue to get people back to work and see fewer unemployed and more employed. We want people to have a decent quality of life. That is what we all aspire to achieving.

Senator Lynn Ruane made reference to the women in Poland. It is their entitlement and right to protest and have their voices heard. The same applies to the children from St. Mochta's national school who were protesting this morning. I am not familiar with the school, but I would be very happy to talk about it.

Senators Denis Landy and Diarmuid Wilson raised the issue of councillors' pay. Had Senator Denis Landy been here yesterday, he would have heard Senator Gerard P. Craughwell and others raise the issue. The Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Deputy Simon Coveney, and the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Leo Varadkar, are committed to examining councillors' pay and conditions and the K-class pension contributions. Unlike his predecessor, the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government is actually committed to doing something. There was nothing done when the former Minister responsible for local government, Deputy Alan Kelly, was in office. We have checked it out.