Joe O'Toole (Independent)

I feel wasted. I spent one career trying to reduce class sizes and another trying to keep the minimum wage out of the tax net. In one short speech yesterday, the Minister turned on its head a large amount of good, hard, committed and energetic work done by many people over the years. It will return to haunt the Government.

There is nothing wrong with the 1% and 2% income levies. Asking people such as ourselves to pay more is fine and cannot be argued with. It is a question of the poor, the old, the lonely and the sick. People who had medical cards will no longer have them, older people will have more to worry about and younger people will be shoved into larger classes. As in the case of the Lisbon treaty, instead of dealing with an issue in a straightforward manner, the Government has created seven different oppositions in terms of the over 70s, education and so on. The fine print will return to haunt us.

When the budget's provisions come into effect, a local school may lose a staff member. While people would get used to this, there will no longer be cover for teachers on sick leave until such time as they get doctors' certification. That certification would not be a problem, but it would rarely be acquired on the first day. There will be chaos in schools for small money. It would have been better to take a cleaner approach. If a 2% levy is necessary above the minimum wage level, so be it. The Government should revisit some of the budget's dafter parts, which will worry and upset people unnecessarily.