Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It boils down to one issue, which is the single biggest issue facing this Dáil. We insisted that where there are available resources, the split should be two to one in favour of additional Government expenditure. That runs counter to where Fine Gael has been for most of its existence. It means it will not be able to give tax cuts to high earners, as its members would like to do. That agreement with us has prevented this Government from operating in the right-wing manner it would be inclined to, based on it's members' own DNA. The two-to-one rule will protect public services. Everything that has been mentioned by the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, about what he intends to do in social welfare and what other Ministers want to do in health can happen only because Fianna Fáil put that in there. That was in our manifesto and that is the bit that is underpinning the Government.

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