Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

-----that money was provided to the categories to which I refer, and rightly so. We now face a situation where, if we want to maintain levels of support into the future, we must discover a sustainable budgetary position and policy. The idea that 35% of the total current spend should remain immune from consideration does not take into account the scale of the challenge we face.

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