Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Minister on the publication of the Social Welfare Bill, for the provision of 10,000 new places on employment programmes and for the maintenance of core social welfare benefits for those who need them. This Government will spend €22 billion on social protection. It went to Europe to achieve an increase in the expenditure ceiling. The hypocrisy of the Members opposite astonishes me. For 14 years, they bankrupted our country. They led our people a merry dance and they stole the dreams and the hopes of a generation. It once again falls to a Fine Gael-Labour Party Government to rescue the country. They have some audacity-----

See this speech in context