Yesterday I adopted the guise of the great Dean Jonathan Swift. That was possibly a tactical error as some of my colleagues believed I was posing as Shakespeare. The point I was making nevertheless remains relevant, that we must express our outrage as clearly, visibly and publicly as possible at the financial mess in which we now find ourselves. The issue is heightened by the fact that our masters in Europe have instructed us to ensure that people's houses can be taken from them. If anything calls for Swiftian irony, it is this kind of matter. Yesterday I expressed my hope that if the Government sends €3 billion of our money, bled from us and without a vote of the Dáil, we should rise up in our hundreds of thousands and surround the Central Bank as a symbolic protest. I hope the unions will involve themselves in this.

I noted yesterday that a committee of the Oireachtas examined the controversial "The Frontline" programme. The media are inaccurate as I have not spoken about the presidential election; I have spoken about the behaviour of the media, although I have not complained about it. I do not currently propose to speak about the election, as I have a number of legal actions and it would be improper for me to do so. It would not be asking a great deal of the Oireachtas to examine the entire election, particularly media coverage, if there is courage to do so. The programme examined yesterday is but the tip of the iceberg. I am not impugning the election result and the people can be very happy with it as we have a splendid President. Nevertheless, the media process was corrupt and rotten. I would like my colleagues to have the courage to confront the issue, although I know they are cowed by the media when they are not performing or grandstanding for it. We should take a principled stand on this and act the way the British did, to a certain extent, with the Leveson inquiry.

With regard to the distinguished lawyer, Mr. Pat Finucane, it is extremely worrying that it is acknowledged by the Prime Minister of the neighbouring island that agents of the state were involved in moves that led to the murder of a citizen. I hope the matter will be taken very seriously. Mr. Moloney is a very considered journalist and his contribution makes it even more worrying. It appears our then Taoiseach, Mr. Charles Haughey, contacted the British authorities and probably the British Prime Minister to let them know that threats were being uttered with the connivance of the RUC against Mr. Finucane. We should stand firm and press for a public inquiry as no less is required and justified.

The report of Sir Desmond de Silva, QC, underlines the need for a public inquiry because it raises more questions than are answered in its pages.

I commend all the parties involved in the budgetary process and the bravery of the Deputies who supported it-----

It is not over yet.

-----in spite of its being, probably, the most difficult budget in the history of the country. No budget in the next number of years will be as difficult as this one. Great credit is due to all Deputies who stuck together and did the right thing by the country. History will judge the actions of the people who occupy the Houses of the Oireachtas at present, how they behave and how they respond to difficult pressurised situations.

That said, the Finance Bill provides an opportunity for the Government to make incremental changes to the budget if it is desirable to do so. No Government gets it right all the time. There are always things that could be done differently or improved upon. For example, there should be a universal social charge of 3% to 5% on salaries in excess of €80,000, increasing incrementally as salaries go up. That would give the Government scope to revisit other difficult areas.

I ask the Leader to bring the following suggestion to the attention of the Minister for Finance. The Budget Statement should be a summation of the deliberations and discussions of Parliament. I commend the Leader for facilitating a number of budget debates in the Seanad before this year's Budget Statement. That should be given a more formalised structure whereby the Dáil would debate the different headings of the budget in the six to eight week period before budget day. Decisions would, effectively, have been made by then and there would be no surprises in the Budget Statement. The Minister for Finance would, effectively, sum up the deliberations and discussions of Parliament, which should have a significant role to play in drafting budgets. It should not be left to the Executive. All Deputies and Senators should play a role in identifying ways of improving the country.