Ireland’s Austerity Plan at a glance

The Irish government has unveiled the deficit reduction plan required for its EU and IMF bail-out, revealing deep cuts in spending and jobs.

The key announcements include:

* Corporation tax rate unchanged at 12.5%.
* 10bn euros (£2.5bn) of spending cuts between 2011-2014, and 5bn euros in tax rises.
* Minimum wage to be cut by one euro to 7.65 euros per hour.
* 3bn euros of cuts in public investment by 2014.
* 2.8bn euros of welfare cuts by 2014, returning spending to 2007 levels.
* Reduction of public sector pay bill by 1.2bn euros by 2014.
* Reform public sector pensions for new entrants and cut their pay by 10%.
* 24,750 cut in public sector jobs, back to 2005 level.
* VAT up from 21% to 22% in 2013, then 23% in 2014.
* Raise an extra 1.9bn euros from income tax.
* Abolition of some tax reliefs worth 755m euros.
* Real GDP to grow by an average of 2.75% from 2011 to 2014.
* Unemployment to fall from 13.5% to below 10% in 2014.
* Introduce water metering by 2014.

BBC News

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Dean Popplewell

Dean Popplewell

Vice-President of Market Analysis at MarketPulse
Dean Popplewell has nearly two decades of experience trading currencies and fixed income instruments. He has a deep understanding of market fundamentals and the impact of global events on capital markets. He is respected among professional traders for his skilled analysis and career history as global head of trading for firms such as Scotia Capital and BMO Nesbitt Burns. Since joining OANDA in 2006, Dean has played an instrumental role in driving awareness of the forex market as an emerging asset class for retail investors, as well as providing expert counsel to a number of internal teams on how to best serve clients and industry stakeholders.
Dean Popplewell