Ireland no longer needs to recoup the money it paid to bank investors when the crisis hit, the head of the EU’s bailout fund has said.

Ireland’s plan to save up to €375m in interest repayments to the IMF is getting an encouraging response from EU institutions, but the deal has not been secured yet, Finance Minister Michael Noonan has warned.

Jose Manuel Barosso was quite rightly apoplectic and inconsolable, Herman Achille Van Rompuy was incandescent with indignation, Olli Rehn was incensed and infuriated, Mario Draghi was extremely vexed while Angela Merkel and Wolfgang Schaueble were exasperated.

The euro body that helped bail out Ireland will be checking annual budgets for decades to come to ensure enough money is set aside to repay the debt.

Further EU aid to lighten the weight of Ireland’s massive debts is still a possibility, the head of the body responsible for raising money for broke countries hinted as Ireland waves goodbye to its austerity programme.

Next year will be crucial for the EU. Citizens will elect a new European Parliament, which will vote for a new president of the EU Commission. There will be a new president of the European Council and a new high representative for foreign and security policy.

There is no guaranteed safe way out of the euro crisis, the IMF has cautioned but urges a ‘rainy-day fund’, common unemployment insurance and a fully-fledged euro area budget for the future.

Doubts were growing that eurozone finance ministers could agree to extend the repayment time for Ireland’s bailout funds at their meeting in Dublin tomorrow.

Ireland and Portugal should get seven more years to repay loans from the EU to facilitate their return to full market financing, according to a recommendation from international lenders to EU policymakers.

As we celebrate or perhaps mark the second anniversary of the current Government coming into power, a lot seems to have happened since the Coalition assumed office with such a strong working majority.

European finance ministers are to urge officials in charge of Ireland’s bailout programme to consider a deal to extend repayments.

Markets across Europe were mixed at the beginning of the week, while US markets were also down in early trading.

The Financial Transaction tax to which 11 EU countries are committed could result in double taxation in Ireland where a stamp duty is imposed on some transactions, the European Commission has said.

A deal to examine the payback period for Ireland’s bailout loans was described as a “small step” in the overall aim of returning to borrowing on the private markets.

The EU's economic and monetary affairs commissioner Olli Rehn has said he backs the idea of granting an extension to Irish bailout loans.

A deal to extend the maturity of Ireland’s bailout loans will not save the taxpayer any money, it has been claimed today.

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said today that talks on renegotiating the payment of the Anglo Irish Bank promissory notes are now at a critical stage.

Eurozone Finance Ministers are to consider whether to extend the repayment schedule of part of Ireland's bailout loans.

Germany last night warned Ireland that looking for lower interest rates and longer maturity on its bailout, similar to the deal for Greece, would be “disastrous”.

If Ireland were to get the same conditions given to the Greeks, it would reduce the budget deficit substantially over the next few difficult years, according to analysts.

A cut in the interest rate Greece is paying for its first bailout loan is likely to be agreed by finance ministers meeting in Brussels today in an effort to make its debt more sustainable.

Portugal’s international creditors have agreed to give the country the next slice of its rescue loans, worth €4.3bn, according to a European Union diplomat.

The ESM rescue fund will be allowed to buy Ireland’s banks, allowing the State to recoup some of the money pumped into them.

A 20-to 30-year deferral of the €28bn in promissory notes relating to Anglo and Irish Nationwide would be the most effective way of restructuring Irish bank debt, according to UCD economist Karl Whelan.

The cost of Ireland’s borrowing could be significantly lowered over the next 15 months by the ECB’s ‘big bazooka’ plan to buy sovereign bonds as the country prepares to return to the markets.

The ECB decision to make unlimited purchases of three-year bonds for stressed eurozone member states is being hailed as a game changer, although it does not guarantee the euro will survive.

Spain is negotiating with the eurozone over conditions for international aid to bring down its borrowing costs, though the country has not made a final decision to request a bailout, three sources with knowledge of the matter said yesterday.

The National Treasury Management Agency will attempt to raise a few hundred million euro in an amortising bond over the next couple of days.

The ECB could be on the verge of unleashing its biggest ‘bazooka’ yet in an effort to contain the eurozone debt crisis.

European Central Bank president Mario Draghi must back up his pledge to do what it takes to protect the euro when the bank’s policymakers meet on Thursday or else face deep disappointment from investors hungry for — and expecting — immediate action.

The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) has launched the first sale of long-term Irish Government bonds in nearly two years.

Hopes for a quiet summer recess, giving much needed time to Spain to organise its broke banks, are fast receding, with many expecting the country to need a bailout and warnings that France could be dragged into the mire.

Eurozone finance ministers paved the way for their first direct bank recapitalisation when they unanimously voted to lend €100bn for Spanish banks.

The bond markets have reacted favourably to the last EU summit and Monday’s meeting of eurozone finance ministers.

The latest EU summit was billed as a game-changer in tackling the financial crisis but there is a lot of horse trading to be done before a full assessment can be made, writes business correspondent John Walsh

The National Treasury Management Agency will auction a €500m three-month treasury bill tomorrow to pave the way for the issuance of longer dated debt in the first quarter of 2013.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said an EU agreement to bring down borrowing costs for indebted nations will ease the burden on Ireland’s taxpayers.

EU leaders and their economic experts were working late into the night to come up with some confidence-building measures to help Spain and Italy, now in danger of being shut out of the markets.

The European Central Bank is expected to discuss interest rate cuts at its next meeting but although reducing rates from an all-time low of 1% was possible, it would not be a cure-all, an ECB executive board member has declared.

Spain will present its official request for an EU bailout for its banks over the weekend but failed to convince all eurozone countries that the loan should not have preferential creditor status — a prospect blamed for the country’s euro-era record borrowing costs.

Spain continued to fiercely resist looking for a full bailout despite having to pay a euro-era high for short-term debt.

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has confirmed that the Government is pushing on two fronts to cut the cost of Ireland’s debt and annual €3bn interest payments.

Tomorrow is the start of a critical few weeks forEurope when the fate of Greece, the euro and the weaker eurozone countries could well change for ever.

Michael Noonan has defended Ireland’s decision to contribute €1.27bn to the EU’s permanent bailout fund even though the country is living on borrowed money.