O'Keeffe: Economy shows signs of return to growth

The Irish economy is showing strong signs of a return to growth and the Government’s four-year plan is the only credible roadmap for economic recovery, according to Batt O’Keeffe.

The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, was speaking following the release of the latest data from the European Union's statistics office, Eurostat, which shows that Irish growth is the fastest rate of expansion among eurozone members.

Mr O'Keeffe said: "The figures show that Germany is the driving force for much of the rise in industrial output, but Ireland had the highest level of growth in industrial output of any eurozone country.

"Here, output was 14.2% higher in November than at the same time the previous year."

He said Ireland's stabilising Exchequer returns, strong export performance, high level of foreign direct investment and improving competitiveness are helping Ireland to create high-quality jobs and return to sustainable growth.

He said: "Last year saw the value of Irish exports reach €161bn, the highest figure for export sales ever recorded.

"About three-quarters of our exports are now from the multinational sector which is significant when you consider that IDA client firms created almost 11,000 direct new jobs last year - well over twice the number of jobs generated in 2009.

Mr O'Keeffe said the forthcoming General Election campaign will be a platform for each party to set out its plan for jobs and economic recovery.

"It will be an important opportunity for voters to scrutinise each party’s plan for economic recovery, challenge each party leader on the issues, and assess the compatibility of the Fine Gael-Labour alternative which is divided on almost every significant policy issue," he said.