Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)

I am very glad to stand up here and support this budget. I do so on the following grounds. With regard to the VAT reduction for the hospitality sector and hairdressers, I have heard a lot of criticism by people to the effect that this is a budget for companies like McDonald's and that the VAT reduction is for them. I remind people that in the county I represent, many of our takeaway businesses and many of those fast food outlets might be under a franchise of a larger group but they are family businesses. I heard a Deputy from across these benches this morning describe it on Radio Kerry as a cod of a budget. Now, it did not exactly take an awful lot of in-depth knowledge to summarise the whole budget as a cod. I will I go through the issues that are not a cod and that are not a joke-----

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