And hopefully for babies as well.

I would like to raise for the third time an issue I have raised in each of the past two weeks. I ask Senators to think of the major parks in their own cities, towns and communities. Swan Park, which is an important amenity for tourists at the core of my home town of Buncrana, has been destroyed by floods and will be closed to the public for an indefinite period. It has been estimated that at least €1 million in funding is required because the bridge walk and the screen area have been destroyed. I welcome the Government's decision to reactivate humanitarian, farm relief, small business and community and sports schemes that were previously in place for communities down the country. Equally, it has funded repairs to roads and bridges in the Inishowen area of County Donegal, just as it did down the country. However, there is a huge gap in this area. I cannot get any Department to clarify where responsibility for this issue lies. It is a matter of clarifying which line Department is responsible for funding this vital amenity. I understand the Government can draw down European funding to deal with flooding and humanitarian issues of this nature. Having spoken to a number of MEPs, it appears that efforts are being made at European level to work in co-operation with our Government. This is not even about money from our own Exchequer, as I understand it. This is the third time I have raised this matter. Could the Leader organise for somebody at Government level to give me a response? If the Government cannot fund these repairs, it should be clearly explained why not. I estimate that a total funding contribution of between €20 and €30 million will have to be made to get our community and the people in it back up and running. Why would Swan Park be left out in that context?

Glenevin waterfall is another important community and tourism amenity in Clonmany, about a 20-minute drive from Swan Park in Buncrana. It is owned by a community committee and would not require anywhere near the same amount of money as Swan Park, yet it has also received no funding. These are two very important community tourism amenities which people have worked very hard to develop and cultivate but they have no funding support from central government. The Leader will notice that I have not once attacked the Government in this Chamber about its response to the floods. I have worked in partnership with Ministers, at local and national level, but there is a major gap in respect of Buncrana and Clonmany. I asked the Government to step in because there is no way Donegal County Council, or a local Leader group in Donegal, could cover it on their own. I would like to be able to meet a Minister on this matter to explain it face to face.

I am concerned that, in light of comments made in the House this morning, we seem to be going back to the blank cheque attitude regarding budgets. It is important to remind people of where we have come from. Between October 2008 and December 2010 some €12.5 billion was taken out of the budget because the money was not there and an extra €3.8 billion was imposed on taxpayers in this country. This budget is balanced, reasonable and fair but this is not what occurred between 2002 and 2008 when there was an increase of over 12% in spending. We have kept it to 3.4%, which is below the estimated economic growth, and that is the way we have to keep it because we do not have blank cheques.

I am concerned about third level students who, for economic reasons or because they need to repeat exams, take a year out or work during a year to finance themselves while studying. When they go back to college they find their income for the gap year is taken into account in assessing their grants. It is unfair to penalise them for taking a year out and working during that year and the issue needs to be taken up with the Minister for Education and Skills. We need to see how we can deal with it because it is unfair and wrong. It is an important issue for third level students at the moment.

I agree with Senator Craughwell that moneys be set aside for councillors who are providing a huge amount of time on a voluntary basis and who need to be adequately provided for by way of expenses and allowances. It is important this issue is resolved soon and not prolonged into 2018.

A budget measure that will impact negatively on the farming community is the increase in stamp duty from 2% to 6%. It is grossly unfair that commercial property is treated in the same way as farm land under the tax code. There are exemptions available for developers and a stamp duty rebate if they build and move a development on within 30 months but there is no such rebate available to farmers. A farmer who buys a farm for €500,000 and who cannot avail of the family farm exemption or the under-35 exemption has an additional cost of €20,000 and this will disincentivise farmers who are trying to increase the viability of their farms, leading to a negative impact on the rural economy.

There has to be an amendment to the Finance Act to create a distinction between commercial property and farming land. I support Senator Boyhan's call for the Minister for Agriculture Food and the Marine to come to the House for a debate on the issue. He spoke in the other House on the issue last night and his comments were not what the farming community was looking for but this issue will be a major cause of concern to farmers all over the country.