Expenditure ceiling warning from EU

There is little that can be done to quickly rectify the five areas in the country’s economy where serious imbalances have been identified by the European Commission, Finance Minister Michael Noonan has admitted.

Later this month, the Government will receive specific recommendations on getting to grips with the issues and will have until June 3 to respond.

While the report acknowledges that Ireland had a higher than euro-area growth in 2011 to 2013, it said the imbalances remained important.