Talks open as IMF officials start going through the books

FORMAL talks get under way today on a bailout for Ireland with between 10 and 12 officials from the IMF beginning a trawl of the country’s finances.

The team, including a number of banking experts, were last night en route to Dublin from Washington, London and other locations. They will be led by Ajai Chopra, an unknown in this country just two days ago, who is now likely to become a household name as he formulates a historical rescue that will lead to a significant loss of financial independence.

Finance officials were yesterday taken aback by the media circus surrounding Mr Chopra who arrived here on Wednesday. After being recognised by a member of the foreign press coming out of the plush Merrion Hotel, he was photographed and filmed as he and a colleague walked through Dublin city to the Central Bank at about 8.30am yesterday.

The remainder of his colleagues will fly in today and so far they have no plans to meet with elected representatives. There will be no “chief negotiator” representing Ireland’s interests. But the IMF, EU and ECB will hold secret discussions with officials from the Department of Finance, the Central Bank and the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) who will be subject to the direction of the Minister for Finance.

The locations and time of discussions, as well as the identity of those involved, are being kept top secret to keep media attention and speculation at bay.

“Meetings will take place at various locations around Dublin,” said a spokesperson for the Central Bank, while a Department of Finance spokesperson said details would not be released to the media.

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan said he would sign off on whatever proposals were produced, and they would then have to go to Government for approval.

Announcing the beginning of formal talks yesterday, the IMF said it would not discuss the “hypothetical” question of how much Ireland will require in aid.

Speaking from Washington, IMF spokeswoman Caroline Atkinson said a bailout would not ignore the potential impact of savage cuts on the least well-off. “Over the last couple of years we have been very focused on the need for what we have been calling social conditioning – the need to protect the very poorest and the most vulnerable,” she said.