No bank debt deal just by demanding it, says official

Ireland will not get a deal on its bank debt by simply demanding it, the secretary general of the Department of Finance, John Moran, told a conference this week.

The argument that the Sept 2008 government bailout of the banks was an indirect recapitalisation of the EU banking system will not win over countries that did not benefit from the move, he said.

The best chance of Ireland securing a restructuring of the debt burden is by convincing other member states that the EU badly needs a success story among the EU/IMF programme countries.