Foreign deposits into Irish banks have increased significantly, indicating an increase of confidence in Ireland, the Irish Times reports.

The withdrawing of cash from the Irish banking system helped was a key cause for the EI-IMF bailout last November.

The small but substantial increase in overseas deposits comes at the end of a week when the Irish government's theoretical cost of borrowing fell to pre-bailout levels.

The Central Bank statistics on deposits point to a stabilisation of the Irish financial system.

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan responded to the developments, saying the “deposit figures illustrate growing national and international confidence in the Irish banking system. It is particularly impressive that the deposit position of the Irish banks has improved at a time of such global uncertainty.”

He described the cash inflows as an “an endorsement of the Government’s restructuring of the banking system. This restructuring has reduced the cost of the banks to the State and has also seen the banks beginning to access international money markets without the benefit of the State guarantee.”

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