A three-year-old child was among seven people treated for mild hypothermia after climbing Croagh Patrick; A priest in Co Meath intervened to stop a brawl between members of the Travelling community that erupted after Mass yesterday; Greece’s former finance minister has admitted he had begun planning to leave the euro and reintroduce the drachma. Here’s today’s lunchtime irishexaminer.com round-up.

Greece’s bailout deal is in line with previous bailouts, only worse. It will lead to further deterioration of the Greek economy and debt, writes Pat Cradock

A disgruntled Greek man has had enough of the seemingly arbitrary austerity measures his people are facing - so he’s decided to help the Eurozone out with some policy decisions.

CALLING the bluff of Greek’s European partners, and retorting with an immediate referendum demonstrated Napoleonic verve by prime minister Alexis Tsipras, writes Gerard Howlin. 

Stocks in the US have fallen broadly following drops in overseas markets as Greeks voted to reject creditor conditions for more loans, but the losses were not as steep as many had feared.

Ireland is unlikely to face any serious economic difficulties if Greece votes against its international bailout and potentially then leaves the euro, according to Simon Harris, the junior finance minister.

Yanis Varoufakis said Greece won’t “extend and pretend” that it can pay its debts, vowing to quit as finance minister if voters don’t support him in Sunday’s referendum.

The prospect of a quick fix to the Greek problem together with €15.5bn in funds disappeared at midnight as the stakes were raised for the country and for the EU.

Next Sunday’s referendum in Greece — that could well decide their future in the euro — will be the first in the country in over four decades, but exactly what will be put to the electorate is still an open question.

Enda Kenny is very slippery on Greece.

Europe Correspondent Ann Cahill looks at the state of play ahead of tonight’s emergency meeting of eurozone leaders on the future of Greece, and the balance parties will try to strike

Greece cannot make debt repayments to the IMF next month unless it achieves a deal with creditors, its interior minister said yesterday, the most explicit remarks yet from Athens about the likelihood of default if talks fail.

Greece repaid €750m to the IMF a day early, just as eurozone finance ministers sounded upbeat on negotiations to complete changes to the country’s bailout programme.

Greece has entered a new round of bailout talks with creditors that are expected to stretch into the weekend, but insists it is not ready to make key concessions despite facing a major debt repayment soon.

Greece’s outspoken finance minister said he and his wife came under attack by anarchists while dining in a central Athens restaurant.

Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras has reshuffled his team handling talks with European and IMF lenders, a move widely seen as an effort to relegate embattled finance minister Yanis Varoufakis to a less active role in negotiations.

Frustrated finance ministers for the first time broke the taboo of talking about a “Plan B” for Greece at a fraught meeting in Riga.

The International Monetary Fund has assured Greece it is willing to be “flexible” with the reforms Athens has proposed to its creditors before much-needed bailout funds are disbursed, the Greek finance ministry said yesterday.

Greece must reach an outline funding agreement with its lenders at a meeting of eurozone finance ministers on April 24, its finance minister told a Greek newspaper yesterday.

Ireland stands to benefit more than any other nation from the ECB’s €1.1 trillion policy of quantitative easing, with hundreds of millions of euro potentially flowing through the economy by next year as a result.

European finance ministers are piling pressure on Greece to open its books and follow through with pledges agreed to in its rescue package, as the country tries to avoid running out of cash as soon as this month.

Greece may have to call referendum

Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras began the task of selling a provisional deal with eurozone partners to extend bailout funds after securing a reprieve from the prospect of insolvency.

Last Tuesday, Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis opted for some downtime, taking himself off to the theatre. The play he opted for was Happy Days by none other than Samuel Beckett. 

Greece cannot be saved by austerity policies. There are worse things than an exit from the eurozone, writes Ray Kinsella , and one of these is remaining within it on these terms

Greek and EU officials will be working over the weekend to put together the list of changes they intend making to their bailout programme following a tense meeting between eurogroup finance ministers in Brussels.

There was an uneasy calm and lots of confusion at the end of the four-hour meeting of eurozone finance ministers yesterday after they failed to make progress on a new deal for Greece.

There was an uneasy calm and lots of confusion at the end of the four-hour meeting of eurozone finance ministers yesterday after they failed to make progress on a new deal for Greece.

Talks between Greece and its eurozone creditors broke down without agreement or even a plan of action on how to move forward on the country's debts and bail-out.

Eurozone finance ministers yesterday struck a conciliatory tone for their first meeting with Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis when he presented his extensive plans on how to soften the austerity programme.

Greek government bonds advanced for the first time in five days on speculation that the nation and its international creditors are moving toward an agreement that will help ensure Greece is not left short of funds.

In this EU-wide game of poker, Greece has the weakest cards but is too belligerent to give in. It’s only a matter of time before Germany-led Europe calls their bluff, writes Anatole Kaletsky

Greece’s new leftist-led government, isolated in the eurozone and under pressure from the ECB, said yesterday it would not accept any deal in crunch talks next week that keeps its current international bailout programme in place.

The first direct talks between Greece and Germany since a new anti-bailout government took power in Athens last week yielded no agreement on narrowing their differences.

In relation to the Greek financial situation, now that the dust has settled following the recent election, it’s interesting to observe that all the promises, threats of defaulting made by the anti austerity party Syriza are unravelling.

Greece’s new finance minister has sought to convince his sceptical German counterpart to back a new approach on Greek debt – but an agreement still appears to be a long way off.

Greece’s new leftist government appealed to the Central Bank yesterday to keep its banks afloat and vowed to respect EU rules as it seeks a negotiated solution with eurozone partners to reduce its debt burden.

ENGLAND: A man unable to walk unaided since he was a child has become the first person in the UK to be fitted with a life-changing computer-controlled leg brace.

Germany expects talks with Greece to drag on until the current round of bailout funding runs out and is prepared to play a waiting game until April or May, when the country approaches a cash crunch, a person familiar with the matter said.

Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras’s damage-control efforts calmed investors while failing to budge European policy makers on his week-old government’s key demands.

Greece’s new anti-austerity finance minister is heading to London for talks with George Osborne as he attempts to build support across the European Union for a new deal for the struggling nation.

Greece’s new prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, has picked an outspoken bailout critic as his new finance minister — signalling his resolve to take a tough line with eurozone lenders in an effort to write off a massive chunk of rescue debt.

Greece’s new prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, has picked an outspoken bailout critic as his new finance minister – signalling his resolve to take a tough line with eurozone lenders in an effort to write off a massive chunk of rescue debt.