John Minihan (Progressive Democrats)

The first thing to be said about the OECD report is that it paints a very positive picture of the economy. There has been a huge amount of gloom and doom over the past 12 months or so with commentators and Opposition politicians vying with each other to see who can best talk down our economic performance. While it is true that conditions have become a lot tougher and the economy has slowed down compared to the hectic days of the Celtic tiger, as the report makes clear, this is normal.

The outlook the OECD projects for the economy in the years ahead is very encouraging. It agrees with the view that the trend growth rate in the medium term is between 4% and 5% in real terms for GDP and a shade lower for GNP. This is economist-speak but in plain man's language the OECD is saying the economy is due a period of very healthy growth and that it has the capacity to out-perform the rest of Europe over the next four or five years. This is a slower growth rate than we have been used to in recent years but very impressive nonetheless, and sufficient to allow for a very significant improvement in living standards and substantial extra investment in public services.