The EU Economics Chief has hinted he does not want Ireland to ease off on its budgetary adjustments.

Olli Rehn says Ireland needs to keep lowering its budget deficit, in line with commitments under the EU-IMF deal.

The call comes as the government finalises the scale of the adjustments to be made in October's Budget.

Olli Rehn says he is not unduly concerned about official figures from the CSO which show Ireland is still in recession.

New figures from the statistics office on the latest developments are not due until next month but data from the last three quarters we have information on show successive lack of growth.

He says the cost of borrowing for the Irish government did not increase when the economic figures were released, ensuring there is no cause for new concern about our plans to exiting the bailout programme by the end of the year.

However the Economics Commissioner says the government needs to address the considerable gap between what it takes in, and what it spends.

Mr. Rehn says Ireland needs to maintain what he calls its "fiscal consolidation in line with its commitments" - which could be a reference to the original plans for a €3.1 billion adjustment this October.

The government is currently trying to decide if it can meet its official deficit targets with a slightly smaller burden on the public.