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

As Deputy Michael McGrath will be well aware, it is not customary to give details of the approach to the budget when we come this close because we would then be revealing provisions that may be in the budget. The Deputy should accept that. When one is farther away from the budget one can speculate about policy and one is freer, as a Minister, to give information.

On the basis that people measure the progress of the economy on any particular set of statistics, it depends on one's perspective. Unemployment is far too high and it is a priority of the lower it. The good news this week was not only that we are on target. Bank of Ireland was able to go back into the market and raised very significant funds. ESB went back into the market on Monday and raised very significant funds. Fitch, the rating agency, took us from negative to stable last night. The Deputy will appreciate that this is the first upgrade of any eurozone country since the European crisis began. One swallow does not make a summer but a great deal happened this week. Then there was the sale of the spectrum for which last year's budget pencilled in a much lower figure, and it is coming in at approximately €850 million. Some of that is money up-front and some of it is working right out to 2020. I am not sure how it will be reflected yet in the Government accounts, but it seems to me that it improves the year end deficit position and I would be confident now that the budget deficit will be significantly lower than 8.6% of GDP.

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