Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I listened to Deputy Cairns. I presume when she talks about splashing the cash, the Deputy is in favour of the double child benefit payment. I presume she would not begrudge someone the additional old-age pension this month and again before Christmas. I presume she would not stop the fuel allowance payments or the lump sum payments for carers or people with a disability or the working family payment. When the Deputy talks about splashing the cash, I talk about giving people back a bit of their own money to help them because this country's economy is run well.

I look forward to having a debate but the Deputy does not need to lecture me. I know my lived experience. I know exactly what it is like to have to fight every single day for a service. I know exactly what it is like to watch my mother have to get in a car and drive for two hours to get my brother to school. I do not need a lecture from her on what the lived experience is like. I also do not need to suggest that any one human being can fix this. We must work together on this. I stood up and said the Deputy had a good idea regarding disability and I said I would work with her on that. The disappointing thing is all she wanted to do was slag me off.

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