Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)

We all know this budget will be tough but we have no guarantee it will be fair. In fact, the record of this Government so far has been to attack the vulnerable and protect the powerful. It is a Government bloated with too many Ministers of State, but there is the honourable exception of the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Dick Roche who has a valuable task and I wish him well in terms of the future challenge he will face.

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