Ireland: EC reports on bail-out; Irish Finance Minister sees major difficulties in securing EU help with bank debt

24 June 2014

The European Commission argues that austerity is still required, due to high levels of indebtedness and the banking sector's weakness. Ireland's Finance Minister Michael Noonan admitted there were real difficulties for Ireland to get a bank debt deal.

The EC report provides a summary of the main findings of the mission and an overview of challenges faced by Ireland ahead, particularly the high level of public and private debt, the substantial level of non-performing loans on banks' balance sheets and high unemployment.

The review mission took place 29 April - 2 May, in liaison with the ECB and in coordination with the IMF.

Meanwhile, Minister Noonan was reported in the Irish Independent as saying, "Things have changed dramatically” in Europe. He said Ireland would need unanimous support from the other 27 EU member states to get support. But just this week, five countries – Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece and Slovenia – were paying more interest than Ireland to raise money on international bond markets.

"It's very hard to convince ministers from countries like that that Ireland needs additional assistance to make our debt more sustainable, when markets have decided we're in a more sustainable position than they are themselves," Mr Noonan said.

EC report

Irish Independent