Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Department of Finance made a submission to the Low Pay Commission some weeks ago. Does the Minister know what it did? He can check it out, look it up and read it, if he wishes. It acknowledged that there is a two-tier recovery taking place in the country. That is the Department for which the golden boy, the Minister for Finance, supposedly the real brain behind the Government, has responsibility. That is what the Department of Finance has said to the Low Pay Commission.

The Government has cut rural Ireland adrift. It never contemplated the effect that this monster, that is, Irish Water, would have.

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