Ireland is troika’s poster boy after austere turnround

IRELAND is once again Europe’s poster boy, this time as the country most likely to turn around its economic fortunes through its major austerity package, according to the timetable, if not before it.

The programme agreed with the EU, IMF and ECB is not just on track but ahead of targets in many instances, the latest review reports. Growth, the first in four years, should be 0.6% this year and 1.9% in 2012 — slightly higher than the IMF’s prediction.

It is not all plain sailing, with unemployment stubbornly high, especially for young people who are less skilled and educated than previously, and with fearful consumers more interested in saving than spending.