DUBLIN Ireland insisted on Friday that it would stand by its tax and spending plans despite a warning from the European Union that its policy could cause overheating of the economy in breach of euro-zone rules. Irish Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy said that he would not be bullied into changing last month's budget at a meeting of euro-zone finance ministers later this month, despite an expected reprimand from the European Union. "We would always take into account what the people in Europe say but the budget that was announced in December is our policy for the coming year," McCreevy told Irish radio. The European Commission formally recommended that Ireland revise its economic policy. It warned on January 24 of a possible "overheating" of its economy and risks of inflation in contradiction with the euro-zone stability pact. European Central Bank President, Wim Duisenberg, said on Thursday he "fully" understood the criticism. "Clearly, the budget plans of the Irish government are out of line with the guidelines they previously agreed," he said. Asked if he would ignore Duisenberg, McCreevy said that for as long as he could remember governors of the Irish Central Bank had also given warning signals to Irish finance ministers before and after budgets. "That's what Central Bank governors do," he said. The minister said that when Ireland joined the euro it gave away the right to increase interest rates and to revalue its currency. "No country of the euro-group gave up the right to frame its own national budgets. That is jealously guarded by all ministers for finance and each member state. "Our budgetary proposals are the Irish plan for 2001. We will have to see what is going to be in the Ecofin Council. "Everybody knows the rules of this particular game in that there is no compulsion on any member state to change its national budget. The commission knows that and I am sure that it will be born in mind by everybody else." McCreevy said he was "not particularly concerned" about the outcome of the dispute. "Ireland, as the president of the commission said recently, is the star pupil of the euro group. We have the lowest debt ratio, we have the lowest unemployment and we had the highest surplus last year. The Irish economy is going from strength to strength," he said.