Finance Minister Michael Noonan has defended the economic principals behind Budget 2015 which has been criticised by The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (IFAC), and the International Monetary Fund for being too lenient.

The Minister told Pat Kenny that he appreciated the IFAC's input - but he did not agree with them on this occasion: "What they are saying, about another two billion of a correction this year, that's a viable economics position - but what I did is a viable economic position as well."

Responding to comments that the decision to introduce a relaxed budget was politically motivated, he said that he was acting upon to economic forecasts which predict strong growth for the economy this year: "I didn't want to kill the recovery".

Minister Noonan also expressed his belief that the Irish economy would grow by 3 percent or 4 percent for the next six years - and that this growth could continue for as long as ten years. He hoped the Budget would "bed the recovery down, and widen it into all sectors of the economy".

The IFAC commented earlier this week that it believed that Ireland had abandoned austerity too early, and that the 2015 Budget could lead to Ireland's national debt being €10bn higher in 2018. It also commented that Irish growth figures for 2014 could be artificially inflated by as much as 2.5 percent.

Mr Noonan pointed out the importance of bodies like the IFAC to analyse the Government's economic policies - saying that one of the factors that led to the banking crises was the failure of previous governments to engage with analysts who offered contrary opinions.

ECB cop-out 

Mr Noonan also renewed calls for the ECB to formally take part in the The Oireachtas Banking Inquiry. He said that its current argument, that its parliamentary responsibility is to the European Parliament, is "a bit of a cop-out," adding: "They were so involved in this particular issue, and there was such a direction of policy from Frankfurt - I think that they should man up and appear before the inquiry and answer the questions."

Speaking before the Oireachtas Finance Committee on Wednesday, governor of the Irish Central Bank, Patrick Honohan again indicated that the ECB is unlikely to take part in the inquiry.

Mr Honohan may submit evidence on behalf of the ECB - although he was not involved with the bank at the time of the guarantee.