Last week, I asked the Leader for a debate on perinatal care and I have got a commitment for such a debate. Perhaps it could be scheduled early in the new year. Many Senators across the House have sought this debate to inform us further on that issue.

The Leader has outlined the business for this and next week which is crucially important for the future of the country in the sense that it gives the Oireachtas an opportunity to rectify mistakes made in the budget. They have to be seen as mistakes because I cannot believe the Government would consciously make some of those decisions when one looks at the small print. I mention specifically the cut of €350 per annum, almost 20%, in the respite care grant paid to 75,000 families throughout the country. I do not see how that is fair. Nobody can explain how that is a justified cut. In the social welfare Bill next week we will get an opportunity to vote on each of the measures. Senator Paschal Mooney, the Fianna Fáil spokesperson on social protection, and I will table specific amendments on that issue. Will the Leader explain how it is fair that the back to school allowance is being cut by €50 per child?

Again, for the second year.

Will the Leader or Deputy Leader explain how that is fair? How is it fair that child benefit has been cut across the board, not just by the announced €10 which was hidden in the small print? Neither the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, nor the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton, mentioned that the cut gets worse depending on the number of children, up to a cut of €20 per month? How should people accept those cuts? I do not specifically blame the Labour Party. It has a greater responsibility in this regard but both Government parties have agreed this cut. On the basis of the pre-election commitments given by the Labour Party specifically in the area of child benefit, a vote for the Labour Party was supposed to protect child benefit. Will someone explain to me whether it is like what the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Pat Rabbitte, said at the weekend that they were only election promises and they do not really matter? It appears to be same with the increase in third level fees, which seems to have been forgotten, and the property tax. The Government is not seeking to exempt those with pyrite affected houses but will ram through an anti-urban property tax.

Following the weekend, I understand many Senators and Deputies took the time to lobby the Ministers. Perhaps Senator Bacik can tell the House the progress of that lobbying and if the Labour Party will back a cut in child benefit, the respite care grant and the back to school allowance. Next week, Members will have a better opportunity to vote against those cuts in the House because of the numbers issue. The Government does not have the majority it enjoys in the other House to be able to ram through these disgusting cuts. I ask Members to examine the cuts carefully this week and I ask Labour Party Senators, in particular, to look at the effect of these cuts that their constituents are telling them about. They will have the opportunity to vote against many of the proposed cuts. I seek clarification from the Leader and deputy Leader as to the success or otherwise of the lobbying to the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Social Protection at the weekend.

Before I call Senator Bacik, I am sure Members would like to join me in welcoming to the Visitors Gallery Mr. Bob Brolly from the BBC and Mr. Patrick Williamson who is involved with the National Federation of Demolition Contractors. They are both welcome.

A happy combination.

As Senator Darragh O'Brien said, we will have an opportunity next week to debate the social welfare Bill and I do not want to pre-empt that discussion. I find it very hard to take lectures from the selective amnesiacs across the House who have conveniently forgotten that they got us into this mess.

As they signed us up to a property tax, that was their commitment.

Can we not deal with the specific points raised? Are they fair?

I believe it is fair that we move to a system-----

We are about fairness.

-----where tax is also imposed on property. I do not have a difficulty with that. We need to ensure it is imposed fairly and we will have an opportunity to debate that issue when it is brought before this House. I will not take lectures from Senator Darragh O'Brien or his colleagues-----

It is not a lecture. The Senator asked me questions.

----- about the inequities of a property tax they signed us up to in the first place-----

What about child benefit and respite care?

----- and the inequities of a troika programme into which they got the country.

Child benefit is not mentioned in the memorandum of understanding.

I did not interrupt Senator Darragh O'Brien.

Senator Bacik to continue, without interruption.

I apologise, a Chathaoirligh.

On the specific issue the Senator raised, it is no secret that the Labour Party wanted to impose higher taxes on higher earners. That was clear from our manifesto. We were not elected into a majority or single-party government. It is a coalition Government and this budget is, of necessity, a compromise. Many of us are most unhappy with the cuts to the respite care allowance and the cuts to child benefit. Again, that is no secret. However, we recognise the incredible difficulty in which we find ourselves as a result of the mismanagement of the economy by the Fianna Fáil-led Government over many years. All of us, including the Senators opposite, should welcome the comments about the promissory note the Minister, Deputy Rabbitte, made over the weekend. Something that will really stick in people's throats in March-----

Really.

-----is if we see more money being paid over in respect of promissory notes, again signed up to by the previous Government in respect of the former Anglo Irish Bank.

Fianna Fáil left a lot of IOUs on our plate.

It certainly did.

The Senator forgot about the back-to-school allowance. Perhaps she might address that while she is at it.

We would be in a bigger mess if we had to listen to Senator Paul Coghlan and his colleagues.