Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

The problem is that there is a major discrepancy between the Tanaiste's words, on one hand, and the reality that exists, on the other. Perhaps it is because he has been hanging around so much with those in Fine Gael that he has become almost indistinguishable from them. It has not escaped my notice that 87,000 people have been forced to leave this country, that we have massive levels of unemployment and that last month was the third worst for retail sales since the crisis began. It is beyond me how taking €300 million out of the pockets of public sector workers and millions more from homeowners in the form of a property tax is going to lead to growth and benefit the private sector. The Tánaiste referred to freely negotiating. If the Government freely negotiated this deal, then why does it not let workers vote on it? What the Government has done is to introduce legislation which will have a similar - if not greater - impact as the deal in the event that public sector workers freely reject it. Are there any lengths to which the Tánaiste will not go in order to protect the wealthy in this society from a fair system of taxation?

See this speech in context