Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I am proud of the fact that in regard to education in the disability sector we spent €1 billion of an €8 billion budget in mainstreaming people with disability into our education system. While some say I should be ashamed, I am proud of all of those progressive social policies. The situation, and what we need to say to the public, is this - despite the economic tsunami that hit this country a couple of years ago and from which we are still trying to recover, all those social gains did not go out with the sea. Many, if not all, can be retained and many can be regained and improved upon when things pick up again in the years ahead.

While that is a commitment we can all make, we have to be straight about it. In their analysis of yesterday's budget, on the one hand, Fine Gael says there is no need for any income tax increases and, on the other, the Labour Party says there is no need for any welfare cuts.

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