Coughlan cautious about latest growth figures

The Tánaiste says the Government’s being “cautious” about new figures showing the country’s emerging from recession.
While the economy has declined in the past year, the Central Statistics Office says there was slight growth in Gross Domestic Product in the third quarter.
But when foreign multinationals are excluded Gross National Product shrank by 1.4% between July and September.
Mary Coughlan says while there’s hope for optimism the Government knows tough times still lie ahead.
“We’d be very cautious about this, because we still have a lot of difficulties to deal with” she said.
“I think it’s good to see we are progressing slowly – which perhaps is a better way to progress”.
“The policy that is being used, the industrial policy and economic policy of this country is certainly strident and progressive and moving towards getting us out of the economic difficulty that we presently are in” she added.