The Irish national debt has doubled in two years to a remarkable 75 billion Euro due to the Irish Government's increased borrowing when the public finances collapsed.

In 2007 the national debt stood at 37.560 billion Euro, rising to 50.398 billion Euro in 2008 and then catapulting to 75.152 billion Euro in 2009.

John Buckley the Irish Comptroller and Auditor General said this was down to funding the growing exchequer deficit. Buckley's conclusions showed the dramatic decline in the public finances:

The General Government Debt had increased to 104.7 billion Euro at the end of 2009 with the Gross National Debt accounting for nearly 97 billion Euro of that liability.

The increase of 24.5 billion Euro in the Gross National Debt in 2009 was mainly due to the funding of the exchequer deficit for 2009.

In the 18 months to June 2010, the structure of the debt, in terms of duration, altered significantly. The proportion of the Gross National Debt made up of short-term borrowings had decreased from 30 percent at the end of 2008 to 7.6 percent at the end of June 2010.