Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)

In our first year in Government, 2011, the economy grew by about 1% and it is growing again this year. As long as the economy is growing, we are getting out of the problems we are in and we are driving forward. The Deputy cannot question that but he can question the pace of the recovery. If we have to mark down growth figures, it slows the pace. I would prefer if the economy were growing faster but there is nothing we have done or nothing that is intrinsic to the economy at present which is reducing the growth forecast. We are importing consequences from other economies and, as our model is based on export-led growth, events across Europe are very important, as is sentiment in Europe, the UK and the US, as these are our big customer countries.

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