Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The effect of today's decision by the Government is that Ireland will now exit the EU-IMF bailout programme on 15 December without applying for a precautionary programme. This is an important decision on our country's road to recovery. It is an important milestone, and now is the right time to make this decision and take this step. The market conditions are now in our favour with Ireland holding more than €20 billion in cash reserves and bond yields at historically low levels. The public finances are now under control with the budget targeting a small primary surplus for next year. Investors now have increased confidence in Ireland. The ESM has been established. Domestic and international economic conditions are improving and international confidence in Ireland has improved significantly in recent times.

We all recall the shock and sense of grief that was felt when Ireland had to go into a bailout at the end of 2010. Since the Government was elected in 2011, we have worked to exit the bailout and to get our economy to recover. Today's decision is an important milestone along that road. We are in a position to make this decision today because of the actions we have taken over the past two and a half years: the renegotiation of key terms of the bailout programme, including the reduction in the interest rates; resolving the Anglo Irish Bank promissory note; getting the deficit down and putting our public finances in order; concentrating on jobs and economic growth so that we are now creating 3,000 jobs per month; and restoring our country's international reputation so we can attract the investment we need to create jobs.

Today's decision to exit the bailout without a precautionary programme restores us to a normal place among the eurozone countries. We will no longer be a programme country, but a normal member of the eurozone subject to the normal conditions of euro membership and continuing to work our way to full economic recovery.

We still have a distance to travel to get our country to grow at an even faster pace, to attract even more investment, to boost confidence further in the domestic economy and to create even more jobs, especially for the young.

Today's decision is historic, important and welcome, but there will be no celebration until our economic fortunes are fully recovered and until economic recovery is fully experienced in people's daily lives. The Government will continue its determined and consistent work to that end. Today's decision and our exit from the bailout would never have been achieved without the patience and endurance of the people, who have suffered from the crisis and who have, deep down, understood there is no easy route to recovery. Today's outcome could not have been reached without the courage and support of those Members of the Oireachtas who continued to have the courage to support the difficult decisions the Government has had to make.

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