Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)

I thank the Minister, although he did not need to go through all of that preamble, given the fact that we are aware of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest, FEMPI, Acts and so on. Is it not a good idea to save €3.2 million? It is a cut and would have implications for people, myself included, but why can we not do it? It would not solve our problems, but doing this would provide leadership and give meaning to the rhetoric of "sharing the pain" and "sharing the burden". We should do this.

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