Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

All of this begs the question, who was looking after everyone else in the middle. Families who do not qualify for a medical card now have to make a drugs payment of €144 per month. In the budget negotiations, who was watching out for families who get no assistance whatsoever with their mortgage or rent or who have to bear the full cost of their children's education?

The price Fine Gael wanted to extract in return for considering even a modest increase in tax for those earning more than €100,000 was to cut the most basic welfare payments.

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