Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

Coincidentally, this is almost the same figure as the Minister's targeted budget correction for next year.

The Minister and Fianna Fáil want us to believe that the budget deficit and the bank bailout are entirely unconnected. However, the inconvenient truth is that if it was not for the €3.8 billion allocation to Anglo Irish Bank the deficit would have been far closer to the April target and we might be beginning to see some progress and stabilisation. To escape from the NAMA hangover, I have been reading the memoirs of Deputy Bertie Ahern.

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