The week that was in words
A significant frontloading.– Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan's description of the €6 billion in cuts and tax increases coming in the December budget
The country needs hope, optimism and the confidence that only a jobs and growth economic plan, in parallel with the fiscal correction, would deliver.– Fine Gael's Michael Noonan
In the early years, I had an unerring habit of not just defeating people but killing them . . . Not literally of course. But I went out of my way to be even more unpopular than I needed to be.– Lord Mandelson turns on the charm for Miriam O'Callaghan
The use of Garda horses and dogs against student protesters in Dublin on Wednesday is an outrageous abuse of the right to protest. The intention was clearly to intimidate peaceful protesters and it is an utter scandal . . . It seemed clear that the Garda operation was a calculated training exercise for the repression of future mass demonstrations of working people and the unemployed, which they predict will be the product of four more years of savage austerity cuts.– Socialist Party MEP Joe Higgins, who was not on the march
During the march to the Dáil, I witnessed members of the Socialist Workers' Party and Éirígí branch off from the main body of protesters in a quick, calculated manner, that led me to conclude that their actions were entirely premeditated... I am fully confident that the ensuing violence was primarily instigated by these extremists...– Trinity College Dublin student Éamonn Lawlor, who was on the march
No party has a monopoly on wisdom.– US president Barack Obama reacts to the Democrats' drubbing in the midterm elections