Ireland bond prices, Inverted yield curve in 2011 15 year bond 10 year bond 5 year bond 3 year bond

The Economic Adjustment Programme for Ireland, usually referred to as the Bailout programme, is a memorandum of understanding on financial assistance to Ireland in order to cope with the Post-2008 Irish financial crisis.

It was signed on 16 December 2010 by the Irish Government under then-Taoiseach Brian Cowen on one hand, and on the other hand by the European Commission on behalf of the Eurogroup, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

On 15 December 2013, Ireland exited the programme.

Memorandum of understanding

On 28 November 2010, European Commission, European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), colloquially called the European Troika, agreed with the Irish government in a three-year financial aid programme on the condition of far-reaching austerity measures to be imposed on the Irish society in order to cut government expenditure.

To avoid the legislative ratification procedures required for treaties under international law, the programme was set up as an intergovernmental agreement consisting of:

  • the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP),
  • the Memorandum of Understanding on Specific Economic Policy Conditionality (MoU),
  • and the Technical Memorandum of Understanding (TMU), the actual Loan Facility Agreement.

The agreements were signed on 16 December 2010[when?] by the Irish government and the European Commission.

Financial aid

The total amount of €85 billion would consist of €67.5 billion external support, consisting of:

as well as a €17.5 billion contribution from the Irish Treasury and the National Pension Reserve Fund.

See also

Literature

  • European Commission (February 2011). (PDF). Occasional Papers. Brussels. doi: (inactive 12 July 2025). ISBN 978-92-79-19326-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link) CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

External links

  • on the website of the European Commission