Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

I thank my colleagues for speaking in favour of the Bill and the Sinn Féin Party for supporting it. I regret the Labour Party is abstaining on the Bill but I respect its decision, which I understand is based on its concerns that we will not be able to find the requisite savings to fund a reduction in Government charges by 5% and I will address that later in my speech. Parties in the House are different and Fianna Fáil and the Green Party manage to work together. I am sure we can work together with the Labour Party. When it comes to high Government charges and high utility prices, the Labour Party and Fianna Fáil are much closer to each other than the Labour Party is to us and I am very happy with that.

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