Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)

I will try to be brief. Outside the Dáil I am a small businessman. This increase will be disastrous. When the previous Government increased VAT by 0.5%, it needed to reduce it again. Catch me once, shame on you. Catch me twice, shame on me. This is a retrograde step at which I am amazed and aghast. I am not playing to the gallery. One Labour Party Deputy - I am sorry, I do not know his name - has arrived to join the Tánaiste. Someone referred to January sales. All backbenchers will go out before midnight to find bargains because they will not be able to pay for them in the new year.

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