There were two further reminders to the Minister for Finance yesterday that all is not well in the Irish economy.
The International Monetary Fund expressed concern at state of Ireland's public finances. At the same time a survey by IIB bank and the ESRI showed a sharp fall in the feeling of financial well being amongst consumers, with July's consumer confidence index falling to 78, from a level of 89 in June.
The expectations index - which measures consumers' view of the future economic outlook - was down from 78.9 in June to 67.4 in July.
'It would appear that concerns about the deterioration in the public finances and sharply weaker global equity markets have had an impact on sentiment,' said David Duffy of the ESRI.
On a more balanced note the IMF is still predicting GDP growth of 3.2% this year provided a predicted pick-up in the second half of the year materialises.
The IMF recommends a cautious approach to the benchmarking payments, and safeguards to protect infrastructure spending from budget cuts.
But it said an appreciation of the euro, with relatively high inflation and labour costs, could hit Irish competitiveness and in turn the strength of the economic recovery.
