The Finance Minister says we are "well on our way" to exiting the Troika bailout after what he called an "extraordinary" interest in our re-entry to the long-term bond market.

Demand to lend Ireland money was so strong this morning that we borrowed €5 billion instead of the initial plan of €3 billion.

This was the first time the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) attempted to borrow money for 10 years since the autumn of 2010.

400 separate offers of money

Back then we effectively got locked out of the long-term bond markets when the interest we would have to pay went higher and higher. Once the bailout happened the interest rate demanded climbed to over 15%.

Today we borrowed money for 10 years at around 4.15%.

Initially the plan was to borrow €3 billion. However but 400 separate offers of money totaling a whopping €12 billion came through and so we borrowed €5 billion instead.

The move means the country is now all but financed up to the end of next year. This is seen as a remarkable change to where we were 3 and a half years ago.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan says it is extraordinary and is a step towards waving goodbye to the Troika.

"Moving out of the bailout is one thing, but there's no point in being out for a month or our for 6 months" he said. "But it's obviously very good news and we're well on our way" he added.