Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)

Who does he expect will be in a position to pay for all the various benefits paid to hundreds of thousands of people in this State, such as carers, pensioners, people in receipt of disability benefit, the blind, whose pensions were cut by the previous Government, and so on? The country will be bankrupt and we will not be in a position to pay these benefits. We need a bit of reality in this debate. It is all very well to rail against the programme but if the Deputies opposite do not have a solution to how the State can fund itself subsequently, then it is pretty irresponsible I am afraid.

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