Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

The document to which Deputy McDonald referred says a number of things. It is a staff document, as I understand, prepared by some staff in the European Commission and which was leaked. However, it has a number of positive observations about this country. It says that the Irish economy is expected to have returned to growth in 2011. It states that our general Government deficit is estimated to have been well below the programme targets and that the recapitalisation of the domestic banks has been substantially completed. It observes that reflecting the strong performance under the programme, financial market confidence in Ireland has continued to improve. This document should be put in perspective, confirming as it does what the Government has been saying for some time, that this country's economy is recovering and it will recover under this Government.

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