Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)

There are people who lived very meagre lives on meagre incomes and who now find themselves unemployed. The same people sent money into the Exchequer at a time when the Government could not get its figures right at any time of the year and underestimated the total every year. These people are now hit by the downturn. Deputy Gogarty has indicated it is only a small cut in the social welfare rate but I will tell him and anybody else who cares to listen that the small cut is €8 a week. If a person's income is very low, one would realise it is half the price of a bag of coal. The price of a bag of coal has gone up because of the carbon tax.

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