Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)

In other words, the €10 billion could be achieved if we put people back to work. That is the reason we have a deficit. I am not suggesting people should work for their dole payments. Clearly, they must be given better wages than that but the extra money could be, for example, made up from the remaining €5 billion in the National Pensions Reserve Fund or by putting a small tax on the super wealthy. If we combine this with the current social welfare budget we could put people back to work doing things such as developing the agri-food sector, sustainable energy, generic medicines and the vital infrastructure of the country. Why can we not try that approach?

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