Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Political sentiment in favour of Ireland is very strong across Europe and in the G20, particularly in the United States. Market sentiment is also strongly in favour of Ireland. We had people in London talking to the main group of investors who invest in Ireland and sentiment was very strong towards Ireland. Market sentiment in the United States is also very strong. This is not to say that the Deputy is not right in his assessment that this is sentiment towards the country as an economic unit. We all know what Irish people have suffered in the course of the adjustment that had to take place. We still have a lot of work to do in this country.

With regard to the levels of personal indebtedness, these move rapidly. A run of statistics published by the Central Bank earlier this week showed that personal indebtedness in Ireland had been reduced by €10 billion in third quarter. Getting a movement of €10 billion in a quarter demonstrates how fluid the situation is. I know we have many individual difficult cases and that many families are finding life very hard, but generally what is happening here is that people are paying off debt at a rapid rate. This has a macro-economic effect of reducing demand in the consumer market. While we have a lot to do yet, I see signs of increased demand in the market since the budget. I hear all sorts of anecdotes from all parties here in this regard. People who live in Dublin say it now takes them another quarter of an hour or 20 minutes to get to work. Other people talk about all the trucks on the road. There is significant soft debt in the system over the past two weeks which suggests there is a general perception of a pick-up.