# Ireland Exits the Bailout (15 December 2013)

URL: https://allhistories.com/ireland/timeline/2013-ireland-exits-the-bailout
Themes: Key Events

The 2010 bailout had committed Ireland to three years of austerity. The Fine Gael–Labour government led by Enda Kenny, with Michael Noonan as Minister for Finance, introduced successive budgets of spending cuts and tax increases, including the Universal Social Charge, a property tax and reductions in public-sector pay. Unemployment peaked at around 16 per cent in 2012, and large numbers of young people emigrated. The government also negotiated the replacement of the expensive Anglo Irish Bank promissory notes with long-term bonds in February 2013 and the liquidation of the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation. Ireland met the troika's targets in successive reviews, and borrowing costs fell as the eurozone crisis eased after the European Central Bank's commitment in 2012 to do "whatever it takes" to save the euro. In November 2013 the government announced that it would leave the programme without a precautionary credit line. On 15 December 2013 Ireland formally exited the bailout, and in a televised address Kenny said that the country had regained its economic sovereignty, while warning that difficult times were not over. Ireland returned to the bond markets and the economy began a strong recovery, with unemployment falling below 5 per cent by 2019. The political consequences of austerity were lasting, however, and in the general elections of 2016 and 2020 the governing parties lost ground, while support for Sinn Féin grew.

## Why it matters
Exiting the bailout marked Ireland's recovery from the financial crisis, though the social and political effects of austerity endured.

Ruler at the Time: [Michael D. Higgins](https://allhistories.com/ireland/rulers/michael-d-higgins)

Taoiseach: Enda Kenny (Fine Gael)
First Minister of Northern Ireland: Peter Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party)
deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland: Martin McGuinness (Sinn Féin)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Post-2008 Irish economic downturn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-2008_Irish_economic_downturn)
- [Dictionary of Irish Biography — Enda Kenny](https://www.dib.ie/search?search_api_fulltext=Enda+Kenny)
- [Encyclopaedia Britannica — Ireland economic crisis recovery](https://www.britannica.com/search?query=Ireland+economic+crisis+recovery)
- [Department of Finance](https://www.gov.ie/en/organisation/department-of-finance/)
- [Wikipedia — Modern Ireland (period overview)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Republic_of_Ireland#Celtic_Tiger_and_after)