Noonan: Irish people are real heroes

The Government has given its strongest indication yet it is willing to go it alone and reduce debt levels without help from the EU’s emergency fund in bailing out the banks.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan said yesterday Ireland could still get its debt levels down significantly without retrospective recapitalisation of the banks.

His comments came as the Coalition marked the exit from the troika programme this weekend, with ministers saying that they would be in charge of Ireland’s decisions from next week.