All I have to say about the budget is that, like others, I have been lobbied intensively by various sectoral and interest groups who are worried about cutbacks. Yet, it appears to me that one of the groups facing the most radical cutbacks, in terms of expenses, is ourselves. Perhaps it is time we started to lobby for ourselves and stopped running away from media pressure and had the courage to stand up for ourselves. I foresee a day when only very wealthy people will be able to take their place in parliament and that is not democracy.

I expressed concern previously in regard to the timescale for the report of the boundary commission for local elections. There is growing concern about the issue. The previous Dáil took more than two years to bring forward its report. Given that in each Dáil constituency there are four to six electoral areas to be considered, there is a serious crunching on time. I ask that the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Phil Hogan, come to the House with an interim report on progress on the boundary commission. Unlike in the old days when a Minister could order local elections to be deferred for a year, that would now be a matter for a constitutional referendum and I am sure nobody would look forward to yet another referendum.

I call for a debate on gang criminality in major urban centres, particularly Dublin. There is no doubt Dublin is beginning to resemble the Chicago of Al Capone's time with shootings every second day. I am not so concerned about criminals shooting themselves, which is regrettable, but I am concerned at the images going out from the capital city and the "Love-Hate" programme, which does not glamorise the thugs, is getting an image for Dublin based on that criminality. Whether the Garda need more powers is a matter for debate. Frankly, the image of the capital city is diminishing rapidly.

Like other speakers, I am glad it is budget day because there is a good deal of fear, much of which is stoked up by the media and politicians. I hope the budget will be fair and that those who can afford to pay more will be asked to do so. There is a huge gap between income and expenditure, not including the bank debt. I wish the solutions were as simple as those put forward by Senator David Norris in respect of the bank debt. Some 18 months ago the people gave Fine Gael and the Labour Party a mandate to fix a badly broken economy following ten years of mismanagement and excessive spending. All Government Deputies must show solidarity and unity of purpose as we act in the national interest. Some recent utterances from Deputies, who are not in the Cabinet, are most unhelpful.

When the budget furore has died down, I ask the Leader to arrange a debate on the jobs potential in the restaurant and hospitality industry as The Gathering will bring large numbers of people to Ireland in 2013. Recently I attended a presentation by the Restaurants Association of Ireland which highlighted a major shortage of chefs. It claims it has the potential to create 1,000 apprenticeships and many other jobs in the hospitality industry. Recently the association submitted a proposal to train 220 chefs and had 140 jobs available immediately. It offered to train the chefs for half what it costs in some of the colleges and had the facilities to do so but the proposal was rejected. Any opportunity to create employment, particularly in an industry that has been on its knees for some time and which may see a revival, should be discussed and I ask the Leader to arrange for a debate in the near future.