Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This is an important issue given events that will happen in the next 12 to 14 months in the run up to the general election. I want to ask the Minister whether he has costed and sanctioned recent policy proposals by a plethora of Ministers that would incur an extra cost to the Exchequer including subsidies for child care, paid paternity leave and compensation for small businesses for an increase in the minimum wage. We will discuss the difference between Ministers talking as Ministers and talking as party spokespersons who are electioneering, and the Minister might tell me where he sees the line between the two.

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