Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

If Deputies care to recall, the jobs recovery was beginning very slowly at the very end of 2012 and it began to gain momentum in 2013. More importantly, I agree to a debate and I want to respond to some of Deputy Kelleher's points. The most important thing in the SILC report is that the median household disposable income went up. That is the one that is regarded internationally as being the most important sign of improvement for ordinary people. The median income increased by a small amount. Given where the country was coming from at that point, it was a significant achievement.

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