Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will answer that question in two ways, first in terms of investment and then in terms of austerity. On the investment side, Ireland has done extraordinarily well in recent times. I have instanced the level of foreign direct investment, which is unprecedented. There is an extremely healthy flow of investment from foreign companies which want to build a stable platform here, with not just an important knock-on effect in the construction sector but also an important long-term employment effect. If we look at the bond issue by Bank of Ireland this week, it managed to yield €1 billion and was oversubscribed by multiples of this figure. People want to invest in an Irish bank, which is extraordinary when we consider the situation a year ago. If we look at Irish sovereign bond yields yesterday, we could have gone to the market yesterday and funded Ireland at an affordable rate for the first time since 2010. Whatever formulation we are using, it is working.

People ask if austerity is working, as if we could decide that it is not and that we will not do it anymore. That is not the choice the Government has. If we were to determine that we were not going to meet the reduction thresholds agreed with the troika, it would stop giving us money. It gives money on a conditional basis and if it stopped doing so, we would have to meet current expenditure from current income, leaving a gap of €15 billion, which would be horrendous to try to close in one year. In getting money from the troika we have gained a period of time in which to work towards a balanced budget and we are doing so successfully. Last year the deficit target was 9.6% and the outturn was 9%. Although growth figures for this year are lower than anticipated because of external turbulence in the eurozone, the deficit target for the year is 8.6% which we are confident we will comfortably meet. Our target next year is a figure of 7.5%. We must work strategies in the budget to achieve it.