As Ireland gets ready to exit its bailout program this weekend, Finance Minister Michael Noonan tells CNBC that there is a sense of achievement that the economy is getting back on its feet.
He added that exports were likely to be the key driver of the economy going forward and expressed confidence in the government’s ability to bring down high debt levels.
“There’s a great sense of achievement at having completed the task I set out to do almost three years ago,” Noonan said in an interview late Thursday. “We had a major economic and financial crisis that needed to be addressed. We addressed it by a series of progressive measures which we implemented on a timeframe.”
Ireland has relied on 85 billion euros ($114 billion) in international bailout loans and assistance from other euro zone countries, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank for the past three years.
But this Sunday, the small euro zone state exits the aid program.
