Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is bad social policy and bad economic policy. It leads to a rise in inequality and inequality is bad for everybody. The Tánaiste, of all people, knows that but it is what he is doing. Why is this happening?

Why are Labour Deputies voting through a budget that hits the poorest hardest? I believe part of the reason is that none of us knows what we are voting for because we do not have the analysis when we vote. Maybe I am being naive but I believe that if the Deputies in the Tánaiste's party, for whom I have great respect, had the analysis before the vote we will have today, they would have demanded changes to the measures for which they have to vote. That is why the analysis is so important.

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