Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

However, they continued to erode the tax base and they stopped investing. The time they did it most was just before an election. All those things are happening right now. The difference is that there is no safety net. When Fianna Fáil did it, there were safety nets in place. We could borrow, people could cut back and businesses could cut back.

See this speech in context