The Government’s promissory note deal will help to wipe Anglo Irish Bank from the face of business and support the State’s recovery, according to Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore.
In a speech to launch the Trinity Economic Forum in Dublin yesterday, Mr Gilmore said: “I’m delighted we now have torn up the promissory note and we have wiped Anglo Irish Bank off the business map.
Debt sustainability
“Our renegotiated arrangement with the European Central Bank will make a marked difference to Ireland’s debt sustainability, to our prospect of regaining our economic sovereignty, and to the process of economic recovery.”
Ireland is expected to become the first euro zone country to exit an EU-IMF bailout programme later this year.
The deal with the ECB was welcomed by sovereign bond markets, as the yield on Irish debt returned to pre-crisis levels on Thursday. However, on the broader economy Mr Gilmore said the number of people out of work is “unacceptable” and warned that unemployment could hamper the country’s recovery.
He added that young people have been among the hardest hit by Ireland’s financial crisis.
“The generation leaving school and college now probably has the most riding on how we come back from our economic difficulties,” he said.
Unemployment
Further support from the European Union to tackle unemployment was announced yesterday as €6 billion from the EU multiannual financial framework budget has been earmarked for a youth employment package. The money will be used to help young people back into work in EU countries.
Financial Services Authority chairman Lord Adair Turner also spoke at the event and encouraged students to take advantage of such an unusual time in economic history by challenging the traditional models of economics. It’s the second year the forum has been held at the college and will be attended by students from all over Ireland.
The event continues today with talks from Department of Finance secretary general John Moran and International Airlines Group chief executive officer Willie Walsh, as well as workshops discussing the future of the Irish economy.
