Noonan doesn’t dismiss €200m cuts idea

Ireland could be in for a much kinder budget than planned in October, but Finance Minister Michael Noonan said he will wait for more figures about the economy before making any decisions.

He described the statement by Ibec, the employers’ organisation, that he needed just €200m of consolidation, 90% less than the expected €2bn, as a “guesstimate”, but he did not dismiss it out of hand.

“Ibec are ahead of the facts at this stage. They may turn out to be right but there is not enough data in yet to talk about it,” he said in Brussels where he was attending the monthly euro-group ministers meeting.