Ireland is still reeling from the debt crisis that saw the heavily indebted country forced into accepting billions of euros in bailout funds from the European Union and International Monetary Fund. But the country is actually in a better economic position than other struggling euro zone states, Chris Watling, managing director at Longview Economics, told CNBC Thursday.
"Ireland's actually better positioned than some of the other PIIGS, as they're known," Watling said, referring to Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain.
"It's delivering some growth … and it's a real contrast to what we see in Greece, where I think the economy and economic situation is worsening, not improving," he said.
Ireland's debt crisis has seen the incumbent coalition government come under intense pressure with members of the Green Party calling for a snap election to unseat the current prime minister Brian Cowen.
The country unveiled sweeping austerity measures this week in a bid to tackle its burgeoning debt and give reassurance to creditors that it wouldn't default on existing debts.
Even though the cost-cutting measures are likely to have a negative effect on economic growth, Watling thinks they are the right thing for the country to do. Without them, Ireland's borrowing costs would likely rise even further, exacerbating its ongoing funding problems, he said.
"You shouldn't allow economies to become indebted because there's no easy way out," he said. "You take a lot of pain upfront or you try and inflate your way out of it, which you can't of course do if you're in the euro currency region."
