Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Government has focused on reducing the deficit through austerity. It has reduced the ceiling of public service consumption and has increased taxes through flat taxes. There is another idea, namely, reducing the deficit through growth. That requires stimulus through investment and the taking out of flat taxes such as water and property charges.
For example, with the ambulance service, the number of paramedics per capitahere is half the number in the North of Ireland or Scotland. Our ambulance service has seen a reduction of 30% of ambulances available and where only 30% of them arrive on time. Those life-and-death experiences in everyday life are directly related to the choices of spend per citizen as set out in this document.

It is not a case of there being only one parameter within which that can be discussed.