Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

Recruitment is suspended for the present, pending my talks with the Minister for Finance.

As for the technical questions raised by Deputy Deenihan, these all are matters which are being discussed at present. I am discussing them with the representative organisations and the military authorities and, ultimately, I will discuss them with the Department of Finance.

I am not taking these measures happily in respect of recruitment. I am doing this because the Government must take a grip on public finances in Ireland. Deputy Deenihan's party consistently states that the Government has let the public finances slip out of control and that it must take immediate action to bring them back into line. However, the difficulty is that Fine Gael is in favour of general saving but particular expenditure. Each time the Government takes action to bring the finances back into line, Fine Gael opposes that particular action, which seems to be downright inconsistent and hypocritical.

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