Commissioner insists Ireland must lower its deficit and safeguard euro

IRELAND will need to provide evidence of its commitment to bring the budget deficit down to 3% by 2014, Economics Commissioner Olli Rehn said yesterday, to help safeguard the financial stability of the euro area.

The deficit is expected to jump to 24% this year from 14% last year as the full €20 billion for Anglo Irish will go on the bottom line.

Government officials, however, said they remain confident they can achieve the objective of cutting the deficit over the next three years since the underlying deficit is 11.5%, when the Anglo money is taken out of the equation.