It was a cowardly budget, full of nasty cuts that the Minister was not honest enough to include in his speech. And now they plan to rush it through the Dáil before TDs have a chance to talk to the voters – or engage with their consciences.

But it is not over yet. We need to engage all those who will be unfairly hit by this budget and all those who are angry about its unfairness to put pressure on their TDs.

Some TDs will shy away from voting against the budget because it will bring the Government down. We need to make them realize the strength of resistance to the welfare cuts. But even those who will vote for the welfare cuts might draw the line at voting for the cut in the Minimum Wage – this is not a budget measure and defeating it will not automatically lead to the Government falling.

There are three things you can do.

• you can send an e-mail to your local TD from The Poor Can’t Pay web-site 
• you can phone one of the six Government TDs who pledged to protect the poor in ‘any way they can'
• you can sign the petition against the Minimum Wage cut on the ‘Claiming our Future’ web site.