Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

Last Friday I was in Donegal where businesspeople were in despair at the budget. There is a sense that nothing was done about the VAT issues to give them relief and that there was no investment stimulus. These are people trying to hang on in the face of a very tough climate. The Taoiseach needs to think again about what the Government is going to do about job protection and job stimulus in this very difficult time. It is all very well to talk about balancing the books and raising taxes to fill the hole, but there needs to be another dimension to this strategy, which was lacking in the budget. While 30 May is a long time away, the committee needs to knuckle down to that issue.

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