Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

-----€22.8 billion is allocated for social welfare, 20% is spent on public sector pay and the balance on services. Do not cod the people. What will Fine Gael cut? We spent eight days around the Cabinet table, endeavouring to look at the estimates in the run-up to most recent supplementary budget and take savings into the system. It was an extremely difficult process. We started by hoping to make as many cuts as possible and not tax the people, but ultimately we found when we were looking at savings and cuts, we were cutting to the bone. That is the reality.

The Opposition has come up with policies and has borrowed some from us, but it has not come up with anything to suggest where it will get the type of money that is required in order to bridge the gap between the €60 billion and the €40 billion.

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