Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

I am glad and sad to speak on the budget. I am sad that we find ourselves in this situation and that the people must shoulder the burden they are expected to carry. I am also sad because those who were in government before the Government ran away from their responsibilities. They remind me of the guy who went into a pub, ordered a drink for everyone in the house, went to the washroom, got out the window and ran away. It happened most spectacularly in the past 15 years. Do Members remember the pristine condition the country was in in 1997 when the outgoing Government left office with a budgetary surplus?

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