Ireland in talks with EU to calm markets

IRELAND is in talks with the ECB and the EU in a desperate bid to calm markets and ensure the Government is not forced to go to the EU-IMF bailout fund.

Speculation over the bailout was described as “fiction” by Justice Minister Dermot Ahern, who conceded they will have to deal with events as they happen “day by day”.

Officials from the European Central Bank, the European Commission, the Central Bank and the Department of Finance have been in discussions over the weekend about what to do about market nervousness, the Department of Finance confirmed.