There has been some comment on the budget and we shall know what it contains in the next four or five hours. I join with Members in saying that I hope that it will be underpinned by a couple of essential pillars. First, the element of fairness which was mentioned by a number of Senators on both sides of the House. I hope that the budget will reflect that the overloading of the workhorse has got to the stage now where working people, particularly in the private sector and small businesses, are finding it almost impossible to survive. There must be some respite for them in the budget.

I wish to comment on some of the leaks about the budget. It is a pity that certain areas that account for 80% of the expenditure has more or less been ring-fenced for protection. It is impossible for us to deal with our very severe problems if we ring-fence 80% of expenditure yet try to resolve the fiscal issues with just 20%. I thought that the Labour Party's requirement that people earning over €100,000 would pay extra tax, either through the PAYE system or through the universal service charge, was eminently sensible. It was also a central plank in the Fianna Fáil policy. Not too many politicians would stand up and say the following for fear of being unpopular. I thought that the suggestion made by Fine Gael of a 3% cut across all of the rates of social welfare was eminently sensible as it would be a small adjustment for people. I fear that the budget will impose major adjustments on some people who will not be able to survive them. That is my real concern.

Tax the wealthy.

If the Senator had listened to me he would know that I have mentioned that already. Waste should be the second plank. I recall that, pre-election and post-election, both Government parties wanted to target waste in the public sector.

We will discuss the budget later today.

Yes. The targeting of waste in the pubic sector was an essential priority but it has gone off the radar in the past two years since the Government came to power. I reckon that the €2 billion sum is a conservative figure and that, realistically, some €4 billion could be saved. It is outrageous the amount of money that is being wasted. Yesterday, there was a Supplementary Estimate for €360 million simply because the management of the health services were unable to manage their budget. Nobody in business would wait until October or November to discover an overspend and decide how to address the matter. They would say that it should be done in January or February and that once a person knows he or she has overspent during the first month or two of the year then he or she can adjust expenditure accordingly. We need professional management to operate the public service. Unfortunately, we do not have it.