The Minister for Agriculture says austerity is not a choice in Ireland - it's a necessity.
Simon Coveney was responding to calls from the business group IBEC - it's urging the Government to ease up on cutbacks.
But IBEC says the public sector pay bill still needs to be reigned in.
The business group is urging the coalition to abandon plans for 500 million in extra tax hikes in the next budget, claiming Irish workers have been taxed enough.
In its latest quarterly economic outlook, IBEC said fragile consumer confidence and poor weather have led to a poorer than expected economic performance in the first three months of the year.
IBEC Chief Economist Fergal O'Brien said the government's focus needs to turn to ways to reduce the tax burden, not increase it:
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Minister for Agriculture, Simon Coveney, has responded. He spoke to Newstalk's reporter, Louise Kelly, outside government buildings earlier:
