MINISTER FOR FINANCE Michael Noonan has confidently predicted that Ireland’s economy could once again “take off like a rocket” if the economy in the rest of the world begins to return to growth.
Attending events in Paris, Noonan said the last few years of adjustments had been difficult for the Irish public, but that the Irish economy was now primed to be in a position where it would take advantage of a resurgence in other economies.
“All the austerity that has been imposed in Ireland in the last number of years, has given us the equivalent of a 16 per cent internal devaluation,” the minister told an audience at the Paris Bourse.
“So even now, when the economies of Europe are not as buoyant as they were, our exports are surging ahead.”
Noonan said the opportunity to ring the bell was “the best fun I have had in a long time”, and reminded his audience of Bill Clinton’s recent advice that investors would be “crazy” not to invest in Ireland.
Noonan is spending the second day of a two-day trip to Paris as part of the St Patrick’s Day festivities.
Yesterday he met French finance minister Francois Baroin to discuss the ongoing status of Ireland’s promissory note negotiations, and this morning Noonan rang the opening bell at the stock exchange in Paris.
(YouTube credit: nysetv1)
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