Coalition free to ease austerity programme

An update on the Government’s stability programme to be published tomorrow will confirm it could ease its austerity programme and still reach its borrowing target by 2015.

The report is expected to show that, if the planned budget cuts of €3.1bn in 2014 and €2bn in 2015 go ahead, it will put borrowing at 2.4% of GDP by 2015 — lower than the target of 2.9%.

Such a predicted improvement in the level of borrowing will increase the demands from the trade union movement to cut the €1bn being sought by the Government from the public service paybill.