Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has vowed not to increase taxes on workers and said his tax reform plan would deliver 15,000 jobs.

Mr Noonan told delegates at the Fine Gael Ardfheis, in Castlebar, that every worker in Ireland could see the era of austerity was over when the benefits of the last budget appeared in their January pay packets.

He said the same approach to giving people more take home pay would continue in the budgets for next year and the year after that if the Coalition is re-elected.

“Unlike many members of the opposition, Fine Gael is not proposing higher taxes and we will not load higher taxes on work. Lowering taxes on work in a strategic and targeted way will not only benefit every worker in Ireland, it will also create jobs.

“The three-year tax reform plan set out in the budget will deliver 15,000 new jobs in Ireland,” he said.

Mr Noonan said that budgets were about more than tax rates, the universal social charge or child benefit.

“From my perspective as Minister for Finance, the budget is part of a much broader strategy to manage the economy for growth and job creation. The strength of our exporting sector that has led the recovery is now being supported by increased demand in the domestic economy.

“With the recovery in the UK and the USA strengthening, the outlook for the exporting sectors in the years ahead is very positive. We are also well positioned to benefit from any pick-up in growth in that will come in the euro zone,” he said.

The Minister said that while the country’s debt is still high it was now on a downward trajectory and, with borrowing rates at record lows, is sustainable.

He said that through negotiation the Government had delivered interest savings of over €10 billion and had also reduced by €20 billion the amount of money the State will have to borrow over the next decade or by extending the maturities on our European loans.

"The blight of the banking guarantee introduced in 2008 is evident in our debt and the €34 billion that Fianna Fáil injected into Anglo Irish Bank will never be recovered. But we have reduced the burden of this dramatically by liquidating the banks and replacing the promissory note with a cheaper, funding model.

“You will recall that the original scheme involved the State borrowing over €3 billion each year to service the promissory note. This deal we negotiated removed this requirement and reduced by €20 billion the amount of money the State will have to borrow over the next decade,” he said.

The Minister emphasised that the money the current Government had put into the banks would be recovered fully.

“The value of our shareholding in AIB, Bank of Ireland and Permanent TSB continues to grow and over time we will recoup the full cost of the taxpayer’s investment in these institutions and use the proceeds to further reduce the debt.”

“We have travelled a long and hard road together but the journey has not been in vain.

The recovery is well underway, the public finances are under control, the economy is growing strongly and, most importantly, jobs and opportunities are being created. In four short years we have turned the country around.

"The strategy pursued by Fine Gael and our partners in Government, the Labour Party, have delivered for the Irish people," he said.

Mr Noonan received a standing ovation when he rose to speak to delegates, making a joke about the constituency rivalry between Enda Kenny and Michael Ring.

He told how on the drive down from Dublin to Mr Kenny’s home town of Castlebar this morning he passed one signpost after another pointing the road to Westport but could see no mention of Castlebar.

“Whoever is running the country, Michael Ring is putting up the signposts,” he remarked.

Minister of State Simon Harris told delegates that economic recovery was hard won but could easily be squandered.

“This Government, like mechanics, have fixed the Irish car. We’ve taken it out of the ditch. It’s back on the road and now we’re ready for the next part of the journey.

“The last thing we can afford to do is hand over the car to the crowd who crashed it, nor to those whose lack of economic driving skills will undoubtedly crash it.

“Because one crowd destroyed the past and the other crowd stands ready to destroy the future,” said Mr Harris.