Noonan wins qualified victory on loan repayment

Repayment dates for some of Ireland’s bailout loans will be extended to avoid them coinciding with the repayment of other debts, EU finance ministers are expected to agree this morning.

The issue was raised by Finance Minister Michael Noonan with fellow eurozone ministers in Brussels and it received a positive response, according to the president of the eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem.

The next step will be for the troika to work out the details, he said, and come back, probably in April, on the technical questions to ease the country’s exit from the bailout programme and back to the markets.