Ireland will be urged to make extra cuts in budget

The government is likely to be advised to make more than the planned cuts in next year’s budget when the European Commission gives its opinion on the draft budget for 2015 today.

EU sources said they are taking into account the report from the troika when they visited Dublin earlier this month and warned about both the country’s debt and the deficit, despite more progress being made than originally expected.

The Commission and the ECB’s report said that they expected the general government deficit this year to be around 3.7% - well below the original target of 5.1%.