Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)

Perhaps they are in Stormont implementing cuts and are too busy to attend this Chamber.

The proposed Sinn Féin amendment to the motion does not make any mention of reform or of dealing with social welfare fraud. It contains the usual litany of accusations against the Government. It attacks a quote from a Minister. If we were to document Sinn Féin's quotes and actions over the years, we would run out of time in this debate. Sinn Féin's approach is very disingenuous. The Sinn Féin alternative is about collapsing the Irish economy. This is the end game of its argument.

Mr. Papandreou in Greece is smoking out those who share the Sinn Féin argument. I would be very surprised if any Sinn Féin Deputy were to refer to Mr. Papandreou's actions as an argument to support its own when he is smoking out those holding such views in the Greek Parliament and nailing them down.

The Fianna Fáil motion refers to protecting the vulnerable. It states that households on social welfare spend their money on the weekly necessities, which is true. However, so do people on the minimum wage. The greatest attack ever made on low income families was the attack made by Fianna Fáil on the minimum wage this time last year when that Government took €40 out of the pocket of every low income worker in this country.

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