Dan Boyle (Green Party)

Tomorrow this House will have an opportunity to speak on yesterday's announcements in the other House. It is the first in a series of difficult and unpopular decisions by the Government and there will be more such decisions. Each of those decisions, as they are made, will provoke a response from the Opposition that it is the wrong decision. That is the nature of government. This year our anticipated tax take will be €37 billion, €20 billion of which goes on public sector pay. The options on controlling public expenditure are to employ fewer people in the public sector, pay people in the public sector less or, the mechanism which was chosen, to try to account for the economic cost of the pensions provided for people in the public sector. None of those options is simple or easy.

This House needs to debate the constant cheap jibe being thrown that people are being dealt with in isolation. A series of decisions is being made that will impact on all in our society but most on those who have achieved most in the Celtic tiger years and who have been seen to contribute most to the damage to our economy.