Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I am not prepared to be interrupted while I am speaking, no more than I interrupted the Deputy when he was speaking.

We are trying to answer the Deputy's critique that we are indifferent about the state of the economy. We are certainly not and are proceeding in a responsible fashion. The budgetary stance we took this year was the correct approach, despite the criticism we received and we will, in the changing environment we face, further adopt a responsible approach for this year and next. Far from being indifferent, we are proactive in this area.

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