“Despite promises both before the last general election, and even more intense promises in the run up to the recent local elections, people living in managed developments, whether apartments or traditional houses, are going to have to wait an awful lot longer for legislation to control their management companies.

It’s a great pleasure for me to be here this afternoon to represent the Party of European Socialists, the PES, through which the SDLP and the Irish Labour Party have a long-standing partnership.

Our fraternal colleagues in the PES have been greatly supportive of the struggle for peace and prosperity on the island of Ireland and I look forward to building and strengthening this relationship as we move into the second decade of the 21st century.

“After dipping slightly towards the back end of 2009, unemployment is on the march again in Blanchardstown. 73 people joined the Blanchardstown dole queue in January to reach a total of 8,353, up from 6,680 a year earlier and from 3,401 in May 2001.

Today’s Finance Bill will mean extra hardship for many families and households as the Minister proposes to charge VAT on a range of local authority services.

The Minister is proposing to extend VAT charges to services supplied by public bodies, including county councils, such as waste collection, recycling, off-street parking, toll roads and the operation of leisure facilities. Depending on the VAT rate charged for equivalent private services, these local authority services will now attract a VAT rate of 13.5% or 21%.

Speaking in the Dáil today Deputy Joan Burton tackled the Táinaiste on proposals to delegate significant functions from the Department of Finance to the National Treasury Management Authority which, by contrast, is a 'secretive organisation' which is not subject to Dáil scrutiny or the Freedom of Information Acts.

She demanded to know if this measure was a pre-cursor to full or partial nationalisation of the Irish Banking system - 'nationalisation for slow learners'.

“The decision by An Bord Pleanala to overrule the recommendations of its Inspector in relation to the planning application in Castleknock Village, behind the old Church of Ireland houses, is extremely disappointing.

"With Ireland gripped by deep recession, property crime has been on the rise. Blanchardstown Garda station recently reported that the local area was hit by a massive 60% spike in burglaries in 2009.

"For the year up to end-November, 556 burgalries were reported, up from 348 for the same period in 2008. This is an average of more than 11 burglaries a week.

If the Government expected the December budget to result in a bounce back of consumer confidence as they confidently predicted on Budget Day, then today today’s exchequer figures must be bitterly disappointing for Fianna Fáil.

Rising job losses, increased emigration and weak consumer demand continue to depress tax receipts.

The Free Legal Aid Centre have just published very useful Guidelines for people struggling with mortgage arrears, setting out your legal reights and offering advice for people being harassed by lenders. They also provide legal assistance to those in financial difficulty and can be contacted by phone on 1890 350 250 or by email through their website.

The Money Advice & Budgeting Service also offer useful adive website and assistance for those in financial difficulty. The Blanchardstown office is located at 7A Church Avenue, or can be contacted at 8206324 or blanchardstown@mabs.ie. The Swords office is located at 5 Forrest Mews and can be contacted at 8901102/6 or fingal@mabs.ie.