We must rely less on turgid eurozone

As the Dáil returns to business this week, the Government is moving very much into election mode.

It has committed to creating 40,000 jobs this year and bringing the unemployment rate back to single digits.

Furthermore, it has committed to increasing employment up to 2.1m by 2018, which would be close to full employment. Employment stood at 1.91m at the end of September. Based on what we know about the momentum in the economy, the employment target for 2015 looks very realistic and provided the economy manages to achieve average growth of around 3.5% per annum the medium-term employment target also looks achievable.