Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Here we are summonsed at short notice without any real information, bar the leaks we have seen in the media over the past several weeks. Obviously, the Government’s spin doctors went into hypermode trying to set the public up for what would be a great new dawn heralded by this Government after four years of austerity. We have had selective leaks from Ministers and this was to be the opening salvo of the Government’s election campaign. Fianna Fáil used to start elections with the phrase, “It is Showtime”; the Fine Gael-Labour Government starts with the spring statement. What a damp squib it has turned out to be. It does not take a bloodhound to smell an election in the air in Leinster House.

What we have seen in this statement is the nod-and-wink promises and actions that will mean nothing to the majority of people for many months to come, if they materialise at all. Today should have been about serious debate about the budget parameters and the options available to meet the needs of our society.

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