Irish economy sees strong growth

[meridian]

What's going on?

Count how many times the word "austerity" was used, and it might give you a clue as to whether the improving economy is being felt by the ordinary citizen.

My wife's a Dub and we go back there often, the recession's tipped the country back about 15 years and it will take a few more years of 7% growth to get back to any place that feels normal.

[Churchill]

What's going on?

People would rather invest in a country that doesn't threaten to renege on its debts.

[scooterscot]

GBP shoots up against the EURO today - why?

What's going on?

[scooterscot]

Siiisssshh. This is not really happening. Scooter is not posting a non-referendum story.

Remember the country that got bailed out by the EU and then later paid off its loan?

BBC News - Irish economy sees strong growth

Irish economy sees strong growth

18 September 2014 Last updated at 14:03 GMT
Shopper in crowded Dublin streetAfter years of austerity the pace of Ireland's economic recovery is picking up
The Republic of Ireland's economy grew 1.5% in the second quarter of the year, figures show, and was up 7.7% on the April-to-June period in 2013.

The official data prompted the government to upgrade growth forecasts for the second time in a week and to promise no new austerity measures.

Last week, growth for 2014 was up-rated to 3% from 2.1%, but will now be around 4.5%, Ireland's finance minister said.

Michael Noonan said the economy was in "a catch-up phase... after recession".

The year-on-year growth of 7.7% was the strongest recorded in Ireland since the early 2000s, Mr Noonan told reporters. By comparison, the eurozone recorded growth of just 0.7% over the same period.

Along with Greece, Spain and Portugal, Ireland was among the eurozone's worst hit economies, with the bursting of its property bubble and soaring unemployment.

'The boom is back'
The 1.5% quarterly rise beat the 0.5% expected by economists polled in a survey by the Reuters news agency.

Mr Noonan said the faster growth would mean Ireland's budget deficit falling to about 3.5% of GDP this year against a target of 4.8%. That meant 2bn euros of tax rises and spending cuts planned for next year would no longer be needed to reach the EU limit of 3% by the end of 2015, he said.

The economic improvement comes after years of austerity, a bailout from international lenders, and relentless austerity measures.

"At face value, the numbers suggest that the boom is back," said Austin Hughes, chief economist at KBC Bank Ireland.

"It shows a clearly improving economy. It's very encouraging to see the improvement in consumption, in construction. So a domestic recovery is taking hold, if a lot less intense that the headline number would suggest," he said.