WHEN IRISH PEOPLE awake on Monday, the country will have emerged from the bailout, but don’t expect life to be too different.

That was the warning from Minister for Finance Michael Noonan, who said that the benefits of the exit will be felt in the coming months and years.

“When Ireland exits the bailout, the Irish people can be confident that their government are the ones making the decisions that affect the country.”

He said that Irish policy would continue to be dictated on what grows the economy.

“The bottom on line on policy is: if it grows the economy, we’re for it. If it shrinks it, we’re against it.”

His colleague Brendan Howlin, the Minister for Public Expenditure, said that there will be no considerable boost to public spending straight away, but that working families may feel the benefit.

“We’re not ready to start giving out largesse just yet, but a lot of additional burden has been put on working families.

So, we’d both like to see some easement on the burden on working families.

“We’re going to be prudent in what we do. So that the jobs we create are sustainable jobs, not bubble jobs.

“The issue of equity and fairness will underscore everything we do.”

Rebounding

Noonan said that the government would use tax as an instrument of economic policy and hoped to be in a position to cut taxes in the long-term.

He said that the economy was rebounding, saying Dublin restaurants were busy first, but adding that tax receipts backed that up.

“There is anecdotal evidence that the economy is coming back, but the hard data on the tax side shows that income tax and VAT sides went up beyond forecast.

I think you’ll see demand returning in 2014. I hope next year will be a better year for all of our people.

Said Howlin, the end of the bailout signalled Ireland returning to “normal constraints”.

“The simple fact is, after this year, we will no longer be dependant on one set of lenders to fund the country.

“We will be back in the normal markets like any normal Eurozone country.”

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