Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

No, one should be clear about this. At the time of budget 2010, the IMF predicted a contraction in GDP of 2.5% for this year, whereas there has in fact been a contraction of 0.25%. Consequently, it was wrong by 2% in a negative direction last year. The ESRI predicted last year that GDP growth would be -1.1%. As it now stands at -0.25%, the ESRI was wrong in a negative sense, albeit by a smaller margin. The Central Bank predicted that forecasted GDP this year would be a contraction of 2.3%, whereas we now are at 0.2%. We have turned a corner in the past year, even in respect of the aforementioned forecasts, all of which erred on the negative side.

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