Ireland’s economy is about to move out of intensive care
Ireland’s three year bailout program, run under the auspices of the International Monetary Fund, the European Union, and the European Central Bank, formally comes to an end on Sunday.
“For politicians, they’re making great hay out of this to say that Ireland is moving on its way to standing on its own two feet, but for many people here in Ireland, it’s still business as usual in terms of trying to make ends meet in a very difficult situation here, economically,” says the BBC’s Diarmaid Fleming from Dublin.
Fleming was around for Ireland’s “Celtic Tiger” boom years, when real estate soared and jobs were so plentiful that people were came in droves from places like Poland to fill them. Things are starkly different today, Fleming says.
“Conditions are very, very tough for people here. There have been increases in taxes. People have very high mortgages. Anybody who bought property to live in during that time still has those mortgages to pay off. The cost of living is still high. Yet, there is uncertainty about employment and, in particular, because the banks are in difficulty, there isn’t the flow of money to be loaned to businesses here to expand.”
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