Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I will respond to that. People can be critical of the decisions we took at the time. There are different views; let history decide. First, we tried to be progressive as best we could in every tax or other measure we put in place. The economists have recognised that in our budgets. Second, one has a certain sense in that situation that one does not want the State to fall. One actually values the State and the services it provides to our children and families. There is that instinct in government that it is not all bad and it is not that one is out there for some mendacious reason. One is there because one likes the State, because one is proud of the State and one wants to protect the State.

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