Today MEPs voted to endorse the findings of a report into the Troika – but ultimately there will be no sanctions. Ireland is not yet free from economic shackles, writes Nessa Childers MEP.
Toner Quinn examines Ireland’s musical response the economic crash and bank guarantee – an “act of betrayal so shocking … the country throbbed with pain”.
No real savings can now be made for 12 years in Irish Water, while we create a duplicate of the existing arrangements and also set up an expensive new central agency to boot, writes Eamon Ryan.
With the instability in the eurozone receding in recent months, we have seen the emergence of an important debate at European level: how to tackle the serious social impact of the recession, writes Dominic Hannigan TD.
As Ireland exits the bailout, the Ministers Finance and Public Expenditure paid tribute to the Irish people, saying they had “used their voice in the polling booth”.
The Minister for Social Protection has told TheJournal.ie it will not be “return to boom time instantly” when the EU/IMF programme ends later this month.
Junior Minister Paschal Donohoe says that since we have now chosen to leave the bailout without a precautionary credit line, we must now keep borrowing rates low:
The Finance Minster says that Ireland’s decision not to take a post-bailout credit line was because this was a “benign” time. The Troika say Ireland is in a “strong position”.
“We believe the country does need to have a lifejacket as we enter what could be potentially quite choppy waters over the next six or nine months,” Fianna Fáil’s finance spokesperson said today.
Ireland remains on track to exit the bailout following the final review, but the IMF says it has no immediate plans to withdraw its officials from Dublin.
The Finance Minister described it as a “red letter day” while Howlin said that after years of intensive discussion, the bailout officials had steadily become “friends of Ireland”.
