John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael)

-----negotiating and announcing sweetheart deals to secure support for this penal budget. This country is either broke or it is not. If it is, where is the money to buy the vote of the wobblers? If not, why cannot those in most need, the blind, the disabled and the carers, have the burden eased? Why did not some of the wavering TDs ask to save the carers and the disabled? At least Deputy McDaid did not get involved in a Dutch auction. Will he vote for the Bill tomorrow evening?

It is a cynical move by the Government that measures have to be voted through by tomorrow night. It will mean that every mother, carer, and blind person will be hit by all these cuts in the first week of January. They lost the Christmas bonus in December and now they are taking a further cut. During the past few days we have heard how the payments were increased during recent years. Most of the increases came not in the 48 hours after the budget but in the case of 2007, two weeks before the general election. In the same way as the voters were bought off in 2007, the Government bought off the wavering backbenchers during the last few days. The more things change the more things remain the same.

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