Ireland has met commitments under its international bailout and successfully concluded the latest EU-IMF-ECB troika review of the €85 billion programme, the Department of Finance said today.

Rescued by Europe and the International Monetary Fund in late 2010, Ireland is in line to be the first bailed-out euro zone country to wean itself off emergency aid if it exits the scheme on schedule at the end of this year.

“We continue to meet our targets,” the department said in a statement, adding it has now drawn down about 91 per cent of the available funding.

Ireland was forced to seek help after a property crash left its banks massively under-capitalised and collapsed the State’s finances.

Since then it has stuck rigorously to the recipe of austerity laid out in the troika programme.

The EU is desperate for Ireland to exit the rescue smoothly to show the tough-love approach can succeed, given the struggles of fellow bailout recipients Greece and Portugal and deep-rooted public dissatisfaction across the region.

Ireland has met nearly all its funding needs through next year by issuing debt periodically over the last 12 months, having issued a 10-year bond in March for the first time since being locked out of markets in late 2010.

The NTMA said yesterday it does not expect to take a decision on its next bond auction before the fourth quarter of this year.

Reuters