Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)

That is the Government's strategy for pulling the country out of its present economic travails. Let us face it; it will not work. Everyone agrees that austerity alone will not do the job. That is widely accepted by all economic commentators on all sides of the political divide. When Roosevelt took America off the gold standard, he was influenced by the advice of one of his top advisers who said that America could not be crucified on a cross of gold, but Ireland cannot be crucified on a cross of austerity either. What we need is austerity with imagination.

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