Ireland must avoid repeat of recent overspending: IMF

DUBLIN: Ireland must avoid a repeat of recent expenditure overruns to protect the progress made in repairing its public finances, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said at the end of a mission to Ireland on Tuesday.

Ireland's budget deficit likely fell by less than expected last year, Dublin said earlier this month, as a jump in year-end government spending, particularly in healthcare, prompted some concern that fiscal discipline may be slipping.

The IMF, which was one of Ireland's external lenders during a bailout that ended in 2013, said the economy's recovery was robust but that crisis legacies persisted, including "unacceptably high" youth and long term unemployment.