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

We can attempt to measure the effect of QE. In the October 2014 budget, the growth estimate for 2015 was 4%. We put some money back into the economy, which increased demand in the domestic economy and drove the 4% higher. In 2015, two tail winds occurred which had not been accounted for in the budget. One of these was QE. Although I had campaigned for it for three years, I did not expect it to be introduced as early as March 2015. I thought it would be introduced in autumn 2015. Therefore, we had not factored it into the budget. The second tail wind was the unexpected decline in energy prices at the start of 2015.

If we take it that it would have been reasonable to expect growth of approximately 5% for 2015 as a result of the budget, QE has had some impact on the fact that growth was 7% in 2015. QE kept interest rates down and, more importantly, reduced the exchange rate of the euro. As a result, our export sector exported more and earned more money. However, it is very difficult to quantify.

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