Ahern says inflation will fall

The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said the inflation trend was "higher than anyone would like", but it was projected that in the second half of the year, "it would ease backwards towards an average of 3 per cent". The Labour leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, said the rate of inflation was almost three times the European average, at just under 5 per cent as against 1.9 per cent, and there was a danger that much of the solidarity built into the PPF would begin to unravel.