Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

Yesterday's Social Welfare Bill made all the social welfare cuts operational from the end of December 2010 or the beginning of January 2011. High earners are given time to acclimatise to "adjustments" while so called "social protection adjustments" are immediate and ongoing. It gets even worse for the less well off. The Minister for Finance put it chillingly in his budgetary speech: "Over the next four years, further reductions in social welfare spending are unavoidable if we are to reduce the budget deficit."

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