Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail)

The Minister of State has opened up a range of issues to which I feel duty bound to respond and I will do so as quickly as possible. I say this with all due respect to the Minister of State who has made a persuasive case to the House and who will rebut points made by some of the Senators on this section, but there are a number of issues that I must address.

What the Government gave through the exemption of the lowest paid in respect of the USC it took away through the reduction of the dole for part-time workers.