The Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan, has said he is confident that December's Budget will pass in the Dáil.
Speaking at the American Chamber of Commerce's annual Thanksgiving lunch, Brian Lenihan said the €6 billion adjustment will send a signal to the world, that Ireland remains a country with a huge amount of potential.
He said he is quite satisfied following discussions with parties in Government and 'various public representatives in the Dáil', that there is a majority for the Budget.
The Minister also defended the Government's decision to reduce the minimum wage. He said it is important that minimum wage structures incentivise and encourage employers to employ more workers.
In relation to the estimated growth rate of 2.75% outlined in the four-year plan, the Minister said forecasts are good for next year. However, he added that nobody would suggest they are 'excessively optimistic'.
Cowen defends plan as 'realistic'
The Taoiseach has said that if opposition parties want to renegotiate the Government's four-year economic plan, they should ensure that their alternative adds up.
Mr Cowen was speaking during Dáil statements on the plan, during which opposition leaders criticised it as lacking vision and lacking an effective strategy for growth.
As expected, the Government comfortably defeated an opposition attempt to put the four-year plan to a vote today. The Taoiseach said the Dáil would have a chance to vote on what he called the first installment of the plan on Budget day.
Mr Cowen said the plan was a realistic appraisal of what was possible. He also claimed Labour's alternative proposal of larger increases in taxation would damage growth.
Referring to the Ministers on the Government front bench, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said he had never seen such a po-faced, beaten crowd. He accused Finance Minister Brian Lenihan of 'supreme arrogance', and said if the interest rate charged on the international bail-out were higher than 5%, it would impose an absolutely enormous burden on the Irish taxpayer.
Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said the sad reality was that austerity was unavoidable, as the price of political failure, adding that it was a very heavy price indeed.
Rehn says bondholders may have to share the burden
A spokesman for the EU Economics and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn has indicated that senior bond holders may have to share the burden of the Irish bank bail-out.
On RTE radio, Amadeu Altfaj said the European Commission wanted a banking and financial sector that paid for its own mistakes and risk-taking.
After rising sharply yesterday, the yield, or interest rate, on Irish ten-year bonds remained at high levels just above 9% on bond markets this evening.
Ireland is unlikely to enter the bond market anytime soon as it has requested financial assistance from the EU and IMF.
