The Finance Minister says next month's budget will "prudently encourage" more growth in the economy.

Michael Noonan comments come after the Fiscal Advisory Council this week warned the Government that "considerable work" is still needed to fix the public finances and it should go ahead with two billion euro in cuts in the budget,

Minister Noonan denied there's a two tier recovery happening in Ireland - but admits rural towns can't rely solely on multinationals for growth:

“Now on the run in to the election, 19 months away, we don’t need further tax increases, further expenditure cuts and it’s time to prudently encourage more growth in the economy, and be conscious that the economy isn’t any one sector, that’s it all the sectors interlocking. It’s construction, it’s retail, it’s farming, it’s tourism, it’s foreign direct investment.”