Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

Will the Minister elaborate on whether he has plans to deal with what one respected firm of accountants yesterday called a pandemic of uncertainty which is now contaminating not just the construction industry, to which the Minister referred, but all sectors of the economy — what in the United States is often called the real economy as opposed to the construction industry, which is sectoral and undoubtedly has huge difficulties?

I noticed yesterday that the Minister saw fit to lecture people. I want to ask him about his comment yesterday that consumers and businesses must put up with high fuel prices and that we are not to "whinge". Does this mean that some woman with her children——

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