Central Bank's strong growth outlook means this is a good general election to win

The Central Bank yesterday delivered its most positive outlook since the country exited the bailout over two years ago projecting that the exceptional factors driving the economy are not going away any time soon.

Politicians in particular will be left in no doubt that the looming election is one election that they will want to win.

Such is the momentum behind the economy that last year the exchequer had over €3bn more in tax revenue than it had anticipated. That is an enormous sum of money.