Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

I want to say to people outside the Chamber who are listening that I wish it was different. I apologise to them for the cuts we are making and for the hard calls we are taking. However it is for the betterment of the Irish people and for the betterment of Irish society.

I was a schoolteacher for 20 years and many of my past pupils and clubmates from Bishopstown GAA club have emigrated. Over the past nine months many of them have e-mailed me, particularly in recent days, and all of them bar one told me to make the tough call and the hard decisions and give them a chance to come home. They want a chance to raise their families in Ireland and have hope. These are young people, many of whom have no interest in politics. I walk around my constituency every day and I see poverty and people who were left behind by the so-called "Celtic tiger". I see middle-class families who had to buy in the boom with inflated house prices and banks throwing money at them. Today these people call on the Minister, Deputy Burton, the Cabinet and those of us in government to make the decisions to get our country back.

This afternoon when the Minister was making her speech, Deputy Ó Snodaigh made a comment regarding Westminster being the paymaster in the North and he is correct. It is the paymaster in the North and you work within the budget you have been given there. However, you should not come down here to us and say one thing when-----

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