Irish Economy records Surplus for the first 11 months of the year – Minister Coffey

Fine Gael Waterford Minister Paudie Coffey has said that the Irish Economy has recorded a budget surplus for the first 11 months of the year.  This is the first time Ireland will record a budget surplus in 8 years.  Minister Coffey said Fine Gael in government has managed the economy in a prudent way that has seen the budget deficit disappear 3 years ahead of schedule and we will continue to ensure that borrowing unnecessarily is a thing of the past.
“When Fine Gael were elected to government in 2011; the annual budget deficit stood at just over €20 billion.  We were borrowing €55 million every day to run our economy.  This was the unsustainable mess that Fianna Fail left our country in; after one of the greatest acts of economic genocide that any political party has every imposed upon its citizens.

“The results of this complete incompetence; was the loss of 300,000 jobs; mass emigration; increased taxation; cuts to services and the loss of our economic sovereignty; and economic contraction on a scale never seen before in the history of the European Union, perhaps only matched by Greece today.

“Today, this Fine Gael led government has returned Ireland to becoming the fastest growing economy in Europe; there are now 140,000 more people at work today, than there was in 2011. We have cut taxes and we’re spending more in essential services such as Housing, Health and Education.  Next year we will see net inward migration to Ireland for the first time in almost a decade and we have put a halt to unnecessary borrowing.

“Fine Gael’s economic plan has worked; but a change in government and personnel early next year; could very easily unpick all of the hard that has been done to date to rebuild our economy from the rubble it was in, in 2011. All opposition parties, bar none, have rejected everything this government has done to turn-around our economic fortunes; they want to rewind the clock back to 2011 and fight the last general election.

“Fine Gael is looking forward, and we have the plans and the people to ensure that we can continue on a stable, growing economic platform.  We will not return our economy to the failed boom and bust model favoured by Fianna Fail, that has let so many people down over so many years.  Fine Gael in Government will ensure stability and growth not chaos and misery.”

—Ends—