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

That is the reason the unpopular decisions must be taken but in the period after the darkest hour the sunshine will radiate and the people will say this was a Taoiseach and a Tánaiste who delivered, and that this Government made the choices not in the vested interests of the chosen few but in the interests of the people. It is about the totality of our nation. The sovereignty of our people is what this Government and this period in our history is about. As a member of a party in government with Labour, I will be happy to have done our country some service because it is about our people. It is not about the one or two or the Galway tent people. It is about all of the people, an gnáth duine, from the man who stands selling the The Echo in Cork to the man who performs the brain surgery, and all those in between. This is Ireland. We are an Irish nation that deserves a new beginning, a new dawn. This Government is doing that. It is making the tough decisions but it must be done and, in time, we will be recognised for giving our people hope again, unlike those who cut and run.

See this speech in context