Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

-----a reduction of €500 million in public investment, a broadening of the VAT base by including services currently exempted from VAT and moving a significant proportion - at least 30% - of the goods and services currently subject to the reduced rate onto the normal rate.

Again, this is a highly regressive approach. I am due to meet these IMF people within the next two minutes but so much for the memorandum of understanding that was used in Greece. This provides some idea of what we are dealing with in respect of the IMF and the ECB. However, I do not expect the Government to approach this in a constructive way on behalf of the Irish taxpayer or Irish society because its record is all wrong. The record of the Government is atrocious and the sooner there is a general election the better, to enable the people of this State to get some kind of relief from the vagaries, to put it at its mildest, of the Government.

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