Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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148. To ask the Minister for Finance the extent to which the economic indicators continue to remain positive and capable of facilitating continued growth in the economy in the future, resulting in future job creation and the maximisation of opportunities for domestic investment and for foreign direct investment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32883/15]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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In general, recent indicators have been very positive, indicating that the recovery is strengthening and becoming more broad based.

The latest data show GDP increased by 6.7 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter of this year. This comes on the back of a similar increase of 7.2 per cent in the first quarter. As a result, GDP per capita is now above its pre-crisis peak.

Importantly, the recovery is now being felt in the domestic economy with consumption up over 3 per cent in the first half of this year and investment up over 20 per cent. In fact, last year domestic demand made its strongest positive contribution to economic growth since the crisis began. This is very important as the domestic sectors are both jobs rich and tax rich. The external sector is also showing continuing signs of growth with exports increasing by almost 14 per cent and imports up by 16 per cent in the first half of this year.

The economic recovery is also clearly evident in the labour market where we have now had eleven successive quarters of solid annual employment growth. As a result, the unemployment rate has fallen by almost 6 percentage points since its peak in early 2012.

However, achieving a sustained economic recovery cannot be taken for granted and is contingent upon the implementation of the right policy mix. The Spring Economic Statement sets outs a strategy designed to maximise the potential of the economy through a number of growth enhancing initiatives in the areas of taxation, access to finance and debt reduction. These initiatives along with a number of sector specific interventions will help ensure a sustained recovery over the rest of the decade.