Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy D'Arcy. He is very welcome back to this House. His opening statement pretty much says it all. This is the fourth time I have contributed to a debate on the Appropriation Bill on behalf of Fianna Fáil. We support the Bill, which is very technical in nature and allows for money to be carried over to make sure there is money in post offices and for other purposes, as the Minister of State outlined in his speech. I will not delay the House. My party supports the Bill and we do not have any amendments to it. No amendments have been tabled to the Bill and I do not think there is any opposition to it. We all want to make sure people get their pensions, social welfare, children's allowance and other payments in the first week in January. We want to make sure the bookkeeping aspect of the State is up to date and has legislative backup. We support the Bill and, equally, I commend it to the House.