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

Our senior citizens are people we should respect and are not just economic statistics. I remind the Fianna Fáil Members opposite of the failed policies they pursued from 1977 to 1981 and also in their last 14 years in government when they bankrupted the country. They threw money at everything. The only cash Mr. Bertie Ahern traded in was to buy votes and we know what happened. Deputy Martin presided over health overruns. Our country was built on a false premise and the victims Fianna Fáil put on the altar of its Celtic tiger was not just our senior citizens but the nation and the citizens of our country.

Fianna Fáil Members should not delude themselves over this motion. I respect and support the premise of the motion. Let us put things in perspective. Under Fianna Fáil and its call to arms, the vulnerable, including angst-ridden elderly citizens, were devoid of services, had their livelihoods destroyed and saw their families forced to emigrate. That was its policy. Deputy Martin might want to airbrush Mr. Brian Cowen and Mr. Bertie Ahern from the history of Ireland, but we cannot do that.

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