Eurozone to help bail out Ireland

A rescue programme is being made for a potential rescue programme to bail out the Irish government if it asks for help.

17 November 2010, 12:00am

1 min read

Finance ministers from 27 EU countries are to meet up shortly following an emergency meeting of Eurozone ministers in Brussels.

At the centre of the crisis has been markets feat that governments of weaker Eurozone countries would not be able to pay off their national debt.

The EU is happy with the efforts being made by Ireland to deal with the challenges of budgetary, competitiveness and financial areas.

The IMF welcomed the Republic of Ireland’s decision to allow a “short and focused consultation” to decide if the country needs budgetary bailout.

Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen warns against “alarmism” over Irish debt saying that the country is working with Europe to deal with the economic crisis and that their situation was not “unique”.

Spanish and Portuguese governments have called on Ireland to accept the European bailout to do the right thing for the euro as if the euro fails then so will the EU.

This follows the release of figures on Monday showing that Greece’s budget deficit is worse than previously thought.

Irish banks have struggled since the collapse of the property market in 2008 when house values fell by 50 to 60% and bad debts from developers brought the banks to the verge of collapse.

The Irish government is proposing spending cuts of €6 billion to try to bring the defecit down from about 12% to between 9.5 and 9.75% next year, though it is feared that this measure may plunge the economy back into recession.

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More of our taxes down the drain as was the money "loaned" to Greece for its bailout. http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/gavinhewitt/2010/11/ireland_fights_to_avoid_bail-o.html Ireland fights to avoid bail-out http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20101116/tts-uk-ireland-ca02f96.html Euro zone seeks way out of Irish debt crisis http://euobserver.com/9/31281 Ireland in crisis talks as Van Rompuy warns EU in 'survival crisis' http://euobserver.com/9/31280 Barroso 'extremely disappointed' over budget collapse http://uk.news.yahoo.com/4/20101117/twl-ireland-agrees-to-work-with-internat-41f21e0.html Ireland agrees to work with international experts http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101117/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_europe_financial_crisis Ireland in rescue talks as UK offers support http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Why-the-Irish-Crisis-is-Going-usnews-4028366968.html?x=0 Why the Irish Crisis is Going Global http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20101117/tts-uk-ireland-ca02f96.html Ireland to work with EU/IMF mission on crisis steps http://euobserver.com/9/31286 EU-IMF troika heading to Dublin to oversee budget preparations http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/gavinhewitt/2010/11/fear_and_the_euro.html Fear and the euro More problems for the EU http://euobserver.com/ headline news Finland voices opposition to Irish bailout Today @ 09:24 CET Finland is unhappy about pouring EU money into Ireland. "Finland is already supporting Iceland, Latvia, Greece and, who knows, possibly Ireland and others," a Finnish official told Reuters. "The government will be politically dead if we accept something that is unacceptable to the average Finn." Ratings agency lowers Cyprus' debt grade Today @ 09:33 CET Ratings agency Standard & Poor has cut Cyprus debt rating from A+ to A, amid a time of heightened nerves over national solvency in the eurozone. "The negative outlook reflects ... the risks that the large financial sector liabilities could migrate to the government's balance sheet," it said.