THERE should be all party agreement to keep the National Debt beneath a ceiling of £30 billion, ensuring that recent gains were not "a flash in the pan", the leader of Fianna Fail, Mr Bertie Ahern, " said last night.

Mr Ahern said that the debt, which now stands at £29.9 billion, was just over £1 billion 20 years ago. "This constant drain, more than anything else, is preventing us from having a more competitive tax system," he added.

This ceiling of £30 billion could be maintained, if the Government took firm steps, starting in this year's Budget, to eliminate Exchequer borrowing altogether by 1999," Mr Ahern said. "This should have been provided for in the new Programme 2000, but was not."

The Fianna Fail leader said it was high time the Government showed some credible sign of trying to tackle the root causes of the debt, principally the too rapid growth in public expenditure.