Ireland has passed the 8th review of its bailout programme after a joint visit in October by the Troika.

The European Commission (EC), European Central Bank (ECB), and International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission revised down somewhat their forecast for GDP growth this year.

The Troika said this was a reflection of a lower pace of growth in our trading partners, as well as weaker domestic demand.

It said that Ireland remains on track to reach the targets necessary to comply with the bailout conditions.

But the Troika said concerns remain on the profitability of banks in the medium term and a lack of new lending.

It also criticised the lack of progress by banks in dealing with long-term mortgage arrears.

Some €19.37 billion drawn-down under programme

The Executive Board of the IMF completed the review back in December.

The completion of the review enabled the disbursement of around €0.89 billion - bringing the total amount under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) to about €19.37 billion.

It said Irish implementation "has continued even as growth has slowed in 2012".

It says the 2012 outturn should be comfortably within the 8.6% deficit target despite health overruns and higher social welfare spending owing to high unemployment.

It believes Budget 2013 set out "a combination of durable spending and revenue measures of over 2% of GDP to reduce the deficit to 7.5% of GDP".

It adds that Irish authorities "are also advancing reforms to help revive growth".

Speaking after the review was completed in October, Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin said things were moving in the right direction.