Martin Mansergh (Tipperary South, Fianna Fail)

In light of some of the pressures faced by schools, these increases are necessary.

I and my colleagues on the Government benches are extremely happy with the budget. When the country was previously in difficulty, budgets tended to be quite tough. However, because of the underlying strength of the economy, it has not been necessary to be draconian in this instance. As an official put it to me earlier, squirrels put away nuts for the winter. We have been able to take out and use some of those nuts now that they are needed.

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