The Irish Times view on repaying the bailout: back to the future
The closing chapter in Ireland’s EU/IMF bailout could come sooner than expected, if the Government can arrange the early repayment of €8bn in loans drawn down from the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism (EFSM) in 2010. The estimated annual saving in interest payments from such a move is €90m, which, although welcome, would have a marginal impact on the State’s finances. Minister for Finance Simon Harris said the benefit would be as much reputational as economic as “it does show how far this country has come”. The country has indeed come a long way since a humiliating loss of economic sovereignty during the global financial crisis. But the multi-billion-euro question is whether the Government learned the lessons of the recent past. There are important differences between now and 2008. Back then house prices had become dangerously inflated because of a decade-long credit bubble. The Irish banking system is on a much…