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The Minister for Finance will maintain Ireland’s economic ties with the UK during their negotiations of a new relationship with the EU
The Department of Finance has been actively preparing for the outcome of the referendum and has been liaising closely with the Central Bank and the NTMA to ensure financial and economic stability can be maintained.
The prudent economic and fiscal policies implemented over recent years have placed the State in a stronger position to weather any prolonged economic shock that may be caused by this result. Ireland has a high growth rate and has significantly improved its competitiveness. Unemployment has fallen to 7.8%. The State’s budget deficit has diminished from almost 12.6% of GDP in 2011 to 1.1% this year and our debt to GDP ratio is down to 88.2% in 2016 and is falling further.
Ireland is a dynamic, open and competitive economy – the strong economic recovery is testament to our resilience. Ireland’s strong recovery in the context of muted growth elsewhere in our trading partners highlights our ability to adapt to changed conditions.
The Minister for Finance Michael Noonan T.D. speaking this morning about the choice of the UK people to leave the European Union, said:
“Today is the start of a process. The UK remains a full member of the EU and will continue to remain so until the arrangements for its withdrawal have been completed. I would like to assure you that I will be working to ensure that throughout this process we will seek to support the continuation of the important and mutually beneficial economic ties that exist between the UK and Ireland.”
“I spoke this morning with the Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland. The Governor advised that the Central Bank is confident that the appropriate contingency measures are in place to address any immediate issues of financial stability that may arise. As part of the Eurosystem and the Single Supervisory Mechanism, the Central Bank will closely monitor the market impact and banking sector in the coming days and will liaise closely with my Department.”
“I also spoke this morning with the Chief Executive Officer of the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA). He confirmed that the NTMA has prepared for this as it is well funded for this year and our debt dynamics are improving. ”