Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

Like many Members of the House, when parents and citizens stop me in the street, they generally tell me about their worries for the future. They worry for the future of the country but, above all else, they worry for the future of their children. Most of us here are parents and we all went to see the best for our children. We want to believe and we want our children to believe that they are not being condemned to that old path of emigration by this Government. We are looking for a sign of hope, a ray of light and confidence that the sacrifices Fianna Fáil have laid out have some meaning.

We must remember that over the past two and a half years Fianna Fáil has already taken some €15 billion or €15.5 billion out of the economy. Like the hamster-----

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