Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

-----who defied the odds and not only survived but are now driving the recovery. The Government is delusional if it believes that decisions made on Merrion Street during its tenure have brought about this recovery. Having broken promise after promise over the past four and a half years, this budget is an attempt by the Government to take a short cut to popularity, but the people will not be fooled. This budget will be seen alongside the coalition's previous four budgets. It is depressing that, as with last year, the Government's priority is not to undo as much as possible of the social harm caused by tough years of austerity, but again to design tax cuts that disproportionately put far more money in the pockets of higher income earners. The stand-out feature of this Government's approach to budgeting for five consecutive years has been to favour the better off. It is Fine Gael ideology all the way.

See this speech in context