Frank Feighan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)

The budget was designed to be vague. Many incendiary devices and booby traps will go off in the coming months. Unfortunately, ordinary citizens must pay. They do not understand what is coming down the line because the Minister has not highlighted or printed it. Does the Minister not accept that if some moneys were left over from €10 million, the 94% cut equates to €9.5 million on the CLÁR scheme and surely that is grossly in excess of what was left over?

The budget has been criticised as an especially anti-rural budget with cuts to rural transport, a hike in school transport costs, cuts to carers for the disabled and blind and cuts to CLÁR and RAPID programmes. Is the Minister concerned that this budget is effectively anti-rural and that people living in rural areas have been hit disproportionately by this budget?

See this speech in context