THE MINISTER for Finance’s special economic adviser Dr Alan Ahearne has said that the current growth level of exports is much stronger than he had expected.

Dr Ahearne, who was heckled at a meeting attended by several hundred people in Galway last night, said that this 13 per cent growth in exports would have a significant impact on economic recovery.

He also said he did not believe there would be further significant wage cuts as competitiveness had already improved significantly.

There was tight Garda security at the public meeting hosted by Galway West Fianna Fáil TD Frank Fahey in the Clayton Hotel, with both uniformed and plain-clothed Garda present both in and outside the conference room.

Mr Fahey said he had not requested the Garda presence, and said that everyone was welcome to attend, including a number of protesters supporting the Galway Unites Against the Cuts campaign.

Also attending was Joe McNamara, who was arrested last September for driving a concrete mixer bearing the slogan “Toxic Bank Anglo” into the gates of Leinster House.

When the meeting eventually ended in disarray, after a walk-out by some of the audience, Mr McNamara seized a microphone and told Mr Fahey he would run against him as an independent candidate in Galway West in the general election.

Mr Fahey said that the meeting was a “genuine attempt to give people an opportunity to express their anger”.

However, Mr Fahey was clearly shaken when he was both booed and applauded after his address, where he outlined his views on the cause of the economic downturn.

One of the mistakes the Government had made, he said, was its failure to introduce “counter-cyclical policies” to dampen a boom caused by lower interest rates after Ireland joined the euro.

Mr Fahey admitted that the fault lay with a government that he had been a part of, and he wished to apologise for this. However, measures put in place since had allowed for the growth in exports now witnessed, he said.