Ireland wants deal if ECB aids Greece

Ireland would see any ECB contribution to the restructuring of Greek debt as a precedent that would boost Dublin’s efforts to ease the burden of its own sovereign debt, Finance Minister Michael Noonan said last night.

ECB policymakers were divided yesterday as to what contribution the ECB might make to a restructuring of Greece’s sovereign debt amid efforts to close a complex deal to unlock a second bailout for Athens.

Ireland, widely seen as the poster child among bailed-out eurozone countries, has been lobbying the ECB to help it reduce the burden of its sovereign debt by cutting the cost to the government of bailing out its banks.