Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I foresee two sets of issues. I have already mentioned one, the external environment. There are obviously uncertainties over eastern Europe, particularly Ukraine. There are uncertainties over the position of Greece and the future inclusion of the United Kingdom within the European Union. Those are matters over which we have very little control, but they may impact on us and we need to keep a very close eye on them.

There are also internal issues we need to address. We obviously need to maintain our discipline in public expenditure so that we can grow according to our capacity in a sustainable way and maintain confidence, which we have discovered in the past four years is one of the most important issues. It sounds intangible but for investors in Ireland confidence that we can do the job and will deliver according to our word is really important. The most important component of maintaining that is stability in government so that people know that the policy platform will be robust into the future.

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