Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)

We wait to see what the Minister has to say. However, I will give the Taoiseach a health warning, if I may. It will not be good enough unless the Minister clearly brings an end to the obscene practice in question, especially when budget cuts, as heralded by other Ministers, will not just affect the most vulnerable of our citizens but people who never thought of themselves as economically vulnerable. It is disgusting that for attending a meeting a person would be paid €3,000 by the taxpayer, on top of an exorbitant salary of €100,000 and a pension.

I applaud the Taoiseach's willingness to set aside whatever pension payments he had before coming into office. We wait, however, in anticipation of the Minister's statement and hope it will not be another broken promise. All the issues that I signalled, the subjects of ministerial leaks, are ones which the Taoiseach's Government partner described as red line issues. Thug an Taoiseach agus daoine eile ó Fine Gael a lán geallúintí faoi na rudaí seo. Tá a fhios acu go bhfuil go leor de na geallúintí sin briste acu.

While the Government got a huge mandate in the election, it will not get any more support if it goes forward with these budget cuts while the elites cream off moneys from the taxpayers' pockets.

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