Howlin to outline broad Budget strokes

The Public Expenditure Minister will outline the broad terms of the budget to his Labour colleagues this morning.

Brendan Howlin will outline some of the budget options and tax reforms open to the coalition on October 14.

The party concludes its two-day "think-in" ahead of the return of the Dáil tomorrow. Minister Howlin said they need to get the message out to the public that the worst is now over:

"Phase one is over [of] the very difficult and challenging task of repairing what was a completely broken economy - and a broken politics, and a broken administration," he said.

"We worked extremely hard, and probably achieved at a faster pace than we had anticipated, despite a worsening external environment."