Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)

Viewed in that context, the Government's measures in setting a level of public expenditure that takes into account the reduction in tax revenues due to a reduced level of economic activity has to be seen as vital to the nation's future. It is unfeasible, in managing overall public expenditure, to allow a major area of expenditure such as education to spiral upwards as if nothing had changed.

This Government's continued prioritisation of education over the last 11 years is evidenced——

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