The Minister for Finance Mr McCreevy officially presented the second stage of the Finance Bill 2002 to the Dail this afternoon.
Effectively putting into legislation the provisions outlined in the budget in December, the Bill this year runs to 141 sections and 6 schedules.
Speaking in the Dail this afternoon, Mr McCreevy said that, as a whole, the Irish economy over the years 1998 to 2001 had grown by nine per cent and that the debt/GDP ratio had dropped from 74 per cent to 36 per cent since 1996 - the second lowest in the EU.
Unemployment has fallen from 10.3 per cent in 1997 to an estimated average of 4 per cent for last year. Long term unemployment has also fallen significantly.
The Finance Bill 2002, he said, would reflect that strength but also take into account the economic slowdown that has been clear since H2 of last year.