Noonan hopeful of a decade of growth

Ireland could be looking at growth rates of 3% a year for the next decade according to Finance Minister Michael Noonan, that would leave the crisis years far behind.

He increased the expected growth rate this year from 2.1% to 3.1%, saying his department expects it to be 3% again next year, in 2015.

The previous growth figures were released in April but Mr Noonan said a lot had happened since then and the latest indications were that the growth rate will exceed 3% and be around 3.1% for 2014, and around 3% for next year.

This compares to the European Commission forecast in May that cut expected growth to 1.7% for this year, but a Reuters survey of economists last month put it at 3.1%

Faster growth will mean a lot of extra jobs and a lot of extra income in taxes for the state, Mr Noonan said.

“We can see the taxes coming through already in the August figures and we hope that can be maintained,” he said.

“I don’t see anything on the horizon, if we are prudent, that would prevent us growing at those rates for five years, even for a decade, and that would solve a lot of our problems.”

Ireland registered the biggest increase in industrial production in the EU over the past 12 months with an increase of 17.6%. The EU average was just 2%.

Ireland also had the biggest increase in industrial production in July compared with June of 11.3% with the second biggest recorded by Estonia but at 2.8% a long way behind the Irish figure.