Full text: Brendan Howlin's Budget 2015 speech

Gross current expenditure for 2015 will be just over €50 billion. This figure represents an increase of €429 million over the 2014 Revised Estimates.

This increase is targeted primarily at critical areas in Social Protection, Health, Education, Justice and Housing.

It is intended also that current expenditure will rise by further amounts in 2016 and 2017. The allocations published today contain some increases to meet service pressures. There will be further improvements announced next October, in line with the Government's priorities. The extent of such increases will be determined by future economic growth and by the level of progress made towards our medium term objectives.

I am also pleased to announce an increase of €210 million in Capital spending for 2015, to over €3.5 billion. There will be further increases in 2016 and 2017.

We are investing in our future and the detailed Capital Review, setting out priorities to 2020, will be published before year end.

This brings the net overall increase in expenditure over last year to €639 million, a position €2 billion better than envisaged in last year's Expenditure Report.

1.e the first small increases from a low base, but c. 2 Billion more than the further consolidation envisaged by the Troika.

AND FROM THE EU ECONOMIC FORECAST:
ie_en.pdf

Public debt is projected to fall to 107.9% of GDP in 2016, down from 123.3% in 2013. This marked improvement largely reflects the liquidation of the Irish Banking Resolution Corporation (IBRC)(45), along with the pick-up in growth

I.E  some of the bank bail-out costs are being unwound

Index of Frank's Diaries