Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach has just said one true thing, which is that the Government is not a business. He has explained that he does not understand business and neither does any of his Cabinet. If he understood business, he would understand how to live in this country. These are the Taoiseach's own records. I see Deputy Niall Collins over there having a good laugh, the same man who turned around and told the hotels in this country they were gouging. It was the Dublin hotels that were gouging, not the Limerick ones and the other ones. However, no, he did not get his facts right either.

I refer back to the Taoiseach. The VAT take so far this year is a staggering €15.4 billion, 30% more than this time last year, which means the Government has taken in €4.6 billion more in VAT this year than last year. That means in business terms that the State has a massive profit. That means everyone else in this country is at a massive deficit, whether they are in business or wherever they are working; whatever they do, they are in a deficit. That is because the Taoiseach and his Cabinet do not understand business; I do. I am in business. I live it every day in real life. If I ran my business like the Government runs its business, I would not be in business.

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