Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

To clarify matters, both the Minister for Finance and I met Social Justice Ireland and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul before the budget. Social Justice Ireland held a formal meeting this week with the Secretary General of my Department so we are very aware and in touch and I know the Deputy will acknowledge that. We are aware of the impact of the economic catastrophe that has befallen this country but there is no point in decrying it. We must present solutions and hope to people and have set out our journey to recovery. We have travelled a fair degree of that journey but we have a way to go and we know there are people who are hurting badly. We will do everything we can to sustain the supports we have. We must borrow to do so in terms of social protection, health, education and so on and at the same time, ensure we create an environment that will put growth, jobs and investment back in our economy and break away from the dependency on the troika so we can make our economic decisions. We are on the path to that recovery and I think people will stay with this Government because they know we are competently walking down that road.

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