Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am confident they would not begrudge carers and those who need respite care grants. It is shameful for the Labour Party to defend this budget when it threatened to walk out of Cabinet if it did not get its way. It walked back in rapidly when it thought it might be left outside the door.

This motion gives us the opportunity to hold the Government to account. The Oppositions should not be ridiculed for holding the Government to account because it is our duty to highlight and expose the massive U-turn by the Labour Party from what it said to what it has done. It was going to burn bondholders. The Tánaiste was like a modern day Genghis Khan about to sack Europe. He was on his way to Frankfurt, but nothing has been done. If the Government gets a deal on the promissory note, it will be because it has accepted the principle that Irish people will carry the burden of banking debt.

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