Cut to interest rate secured without corporation tax hike, says Noonan

FUTURE budgets will be less harsh as a result of a series of cuts being worked out for Ireland’s bailout package, Finance Minister Michael Noonan has said.

The interest rate will be cut without corporation tax being changed.

But even as the minister was celebrating the breakthrough, EU leaders called an emergency summit for Friday as the markets continued to worry about the euro and contagion spreading to Italy and Spain.