Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

They are in the newspapers and I think the Minister knows them very well. Some thought it was good that the Minister was getting at the public service and were delighted the Minister was imposing the levy. In the halls of Versailles, people have been exclaiming how much punishment Irish people took. We are being feted throughout Europe for not demonstrating but taking it on the chin. I met several people, who the Minister knows, coming from the credit union conference to which the Minister referred. Two people, who the Minister and I know very well, are members of Fianna Fáil and several others are members of a credit union in their place of employment. They were between laughing hysterically and apoplectic with rage. They asked me if I would be impressed if they rioted. Of the three couples who were there, one couple lived in the constituency of the Minister and I.

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