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An Ceann Comhairle:   I call Deputy Boyd Barrett.
Deputy Gerry Adams: On a point of order-----
An Ceann Comhairle: What is your point of order, Deputy?
Deputy Gerry Adams: I would like you to ask the Taoiseach to withdraw his remark-----
An Ceann Comhairle: That is not a point of order. I have asked you to obey the Chair. I have called Deputy Boyd Barrett. If you continue to interrupt, I will have to ask you to leave the House.
Deputy Gerry Adams: A Cheann Comhairle-----
An Ceann Comhairle: Please co-operate with the Chair. We have had enough damage done today.
Deputy Gerry Adams: Can I just-----
An Ceann Comhairle: I have called Deputy Boyd Barrett. It is not a point of order.
Deputy Gerry Adams: Excuse me, can I please make my point?
An Ceann Comhairle: Please resume your seat, Deputy.
Deputy Gerry Adams: Can I please make my point?
An Ceann Comhairle: Will you please resume your seat and adhere to the wishes of the Chair?
Deputy Gerry Adams: Then tell me what procedure I can use to ask you very reasonably-----
An Ceann Comhairle: If you care to come to me afterwards, I will advise you as best I can.
Deputy Gerry Adams: Let us do it openly.
An Ceann Comhairle: Excuse me. We will not lecture the Chair as to how-----
Deputy Gerry Adams: I am not lecturing the Chair; I am asking you a question.
An Ceann Comhairle: Will you please resume your seat? I am on my feet. I will not be lectured. I have called Deputy Boyd Barrett. I have told you that if you wish to come to see me, I will go through the issue with you and we will see what we can do. I have called Deputy Boyd Barrett and that is it.
Deputy Gerry Adams: I am looking for guidance.
A Deputy: The Deputy needs a map to his office.
An Ceann Comhairle: Otherwise, you will be asked to leave the Chamber because you are ignoring the Chair. You cannot question the authority of the Chair like this. I call Deputy Boyd Barrett.
Deputy Gerry Adams: I am making a request of the Chair-----
An Ceann Comhairle: I have told you what it is.
Deputy Gerry Adams: I am making a request of the Chair to ask the Taoiseach to withdraw his remark.
An Ceann Comhairle: You are not making any request at all. I ask Deputy Boyd Barrett to resume.
Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett: I am sure the public looking on find this whole spectacle pretty depressing.
Deputy Emmet Stagg: They will be delighted when they hear the Deputy.
Deputy Timmy Dooley: It is about to get worse.
An Ceann Comhairle: Will Deputy Boyd Barrett please get on with his question and not add petrol to the flames?
Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett: I am not going to do that. The people of this country are not worried about political spats between parties-----
An Ceann Comhairle: Will you please ask your question? You have two minutes and you have already lost 18 seconds.
Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett: The people of this country are not interested in political spats at the moment, they are interested in survival, a fact confirmed by the ESRI today, which shows that more than one in five households in this country suffers from joblessness and they are doubly and trebly hit by having to support large families and support disability and by being concentrated in low paid work. The report reveals the shameful fact that, contrary to the Taoiseach's repeated claims we are in a better position than Greece or Spain, Ireland is one of the most, if not the most, unequal societies in Europe.
The Taoiseach's budget has chosen to attack precisely this group yet again. He has attacked children, he has attacked women, he has attacked the disabled and he has attacked low paid workers. In many cases, it will be the same households hit from the left, hit from the right, hit from the middle and stabbed in the back with these cuts to vital supports and to the income they desperately need to keep their heads above water, despite the solemn promises made by the Taoiseach to prioritise the disabled and made by the Labour Party three days before the general election that it would not touch child benefit.
Can the Taoiseach seriously claim this budget is fair? Is he not ashamed to have betrayed the trust of the people who voted for him and the people who voted for the Labour Party in visiting these attacks on precisely the groups he promised he would protect?
The Taoiseach: The mandate given to this Government comprised of two parties, the Fine Gael Party and the Labour Party, is to deal with the problem that our country faces. That problem is that our finances were way out of line and the structures and the way business was being conducted in this country could not, cannot and will not continue in that fashion. This Government has a mandate from the people to sort that out and give our country back to our people. Far from assuming that if we leave things as they are, they will rectify themselves, they will not rectify themselves - even the Deputy knows that.
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