Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)

I tabled a question on the public service numbers and expenditure programme. This report was sanctioned by Government and makes specific recommendations. When I ask about these specific recommendations, with all due respect to those Ministers, I get blasé, bland answers about the wonderful role of Teagasc. My questions are pertinent to what is in the report. I want to know whether those services will be defended; I do not want an answer that hides behind the budgetary process which is still a long way off. We want definitive answers. I ask those questions on behalf of those people who live in rural Ireland, who live beyond the so-called Pale, and who depend on these services.

See this speech in context