THERE HAS been no formal or informal approaches from the European Commission to the Irish authorities seeking further budget cuts this year, Taoiseach Brian Cowen said yesterday.

Mr Cowen was responding to comments this week from EU Commissioner for Economic Affairs Olli Rehn, who said Ireland was one of the countries “in focus” as the European authorities look to tackle huge public debts among euro zone members.

“We are moving along the plan that we agreed with the European Commission,” said Mr Cowen. “The fact is that we have turned a corner; we still have a steep ascent to get back to where we were.”

He said there had been no indication from Europe that Ireland needed to “accelerate” budget cuts beyond the €3 billion the Government had said it would implement this year.

“The only way we can restore jobs in this country on a sustainable basis is get our public finances back in order as quickly as possible, repair the banking system so it starts providing credit to businesses so they can get on with doing business, and, thirdly, improve our competitiveness.”

Mr Cowen said if these three targets were achieved the economy would start growing in the second half of this year, and unemployment would start falling in 2011.

He rejected the suggestion that the euro was “in crisis”.

He said comments by German chancellor Angela Merkel did not suggest there was a crisis in the currency but that there was a need for member states to act in unison to tackle the problems of the currency bloc.

“We are all committed to collective action. We have displayed in the decisions we have taken in recent weeks that we will do whatever is necessary to protect this currency.”

A key part of this was individual member states tackling their deficits. He said Ireland had moved quickly to control its deficit, and the recent fall in Irish bond spreads suggested international investors believed Ireland’s actions were credible.

Mr Cowen made his comments at the announcement that mobile phone company O2 is to create 100 jobs at its Dublin headquarters.

At the same event Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation Batt O’Keeffe said that following meetings with the Irish banks this week he expected a “significant” announcement early next week about how they would ensure an increased supply of credit to small and medium-sized businesses.