The Taoiseach has said that Ireland is on the "right track" as we head towards next Tuesday's Budget*.
Speaking in Dublin last night, Leo Varadkar told his party's Presidential Dinner that we have a strong economy, full employment and rising incomes.
On Brexit he reiterated that the Government wants a deal - but not at any cost - while on the General Election, he told his party he believes Fine Gael can win.
This was Leo Varadkar's third Presidential Dinner as Fine Gael leader and the final one before the next General Election.
By then he said, the Government would have either secured a Brexit deal or, if not, would have guided the country through the worst of a no-deal scenario.
He pointed to The Green Party's tweets about repopulating rural Ireland with wolves, saying he thought their experience of government with Fianna Fáil would have warned them off dangerous predators, then added that he'd "sooner back the wolves" than let Sinn Féin into Government.
On the Budget and Brexit, the Taoiseach said the Government has a twin-track approach to get a deal and if that's not possible, to use a prudent Budget to get the country through, while protecting peace on the island, and our place in the single market.
*Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe will deliver his Budget 2020 speech in the Dáil from 1pm next Tuesday.
