Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am sure the Minister is aware of the impact the recent series of austerity budgets has had on service levels and on people's capacity to spend, plan and budget for their own households and lives. It seems from the soundings from the new Tánaiste and leader of the Labour Party, whom I congratulate on her new positions, that she is also aware of this. While I appreciate that the Minister cannot provide exact figures, I find it hard to believe that a matter of weeks away from the budget, he cannot give us some sense of the magnitude of the cutbacks that are envisaged. I welcome his statement that a €2 billion cutback might not be necessary, but I would like him to go much further than that by providing some specific details and assuring the House that further cutbacks will not be made in areas such as health and education and that people who rely on social welfare payments and have fixed incomes will not lose out.

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