Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

-----the Irish people.

Real Consolidation

The progress we have made in bringing stability to the economy and meeting our fiscal targets must be viewed in the context of the increased demands on public services. Not only have we reduced spending in absolute terms, we are delivering more services with that reduced money. We have a growing population, which increased by almost 350,000 between 2006 and the last census in 2011. The numbers in receipt of the jobseeker's payment have increased by almost 200,000, or 130%, between 2008 and 2012. Numbers in education have increased by 78,000, or 8%, from 961,000 in 2008 to 1,039,000 last year.

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