Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Savings must be made from the social welfare budget. There are no easy options, particularly as every cut or change will affect someone now or in the future. If we do not balance our spending with what we are taking in, the finances of the State will become even more unsustainable than has been the case since the introduction of the bank guarantee. Deputies on the Opposition benches should be aware that if the finances of the State are not brought back into balance within a reasonable timeframe, the people who depend on social welfare payments will suffer most. That is an unfortunate truth. Those who are well off will get by. It is the people about whom so many Deputies on the opposite side of the House are concerned who will suffer most if we do not get the country back onto a path of financial sustainability.

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