Ireland will leave the international bailout programme run by Europe and the IMF on 15 December, the republic's prime minister has promised.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny said the country was now on course to "retrieve our economic sovereignty and independence".
The exit from the IMF/EU bailout will fulfill one of the key goals of the Fine Gael-Labour coalition since it came to power. The last Fianna Fáil-led government had to go cap in hand to the IMF and the EU back in November 2010 to seek a multibillion euro rescue package and save the country from national bankruptcy.
Kenny told his Fine Gael party's annual conference in Limerick on Saturday night: "There's still a long way to go. But at last, the era of the bailout will be no-more. The economic emergency will be over. "
Warning that there was still a long way to go to rebuild the Irish economy after the Celtic Tiger's collapse, Kenny said: "Ireland is at long last on the road back to recovery and to work. Yes, our competitiveness has improved. We have 34,000 new jobs in the last year alone."
He said: "Yes, there are too many people still out of work. Yes, there are too many people still leaving the country. But you know something, there's a change happening.
"Job creation is now at its highest level in five years. The live-register number has fallen every month for 15 consecutive months. That's progress.
"Before we came to office, Ireland was losing 7,000 jobs a month. Now we're creating 3,000 new jobs every month."
The Irish premier added: "After some disastrous years, confidence is gradually being restored. Despite a tough international environment, our economy has started to grow
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