Ireland determined to stick to the bailout pay plan

STICK to the plan, and don’t get your hopes up. That was the message delivered by the troika yesterday at the conclusion of its latest review of Ireland’s bailout programme.

There’s a crunch summit of EU leaders on Sunday at which they will be under pressure to find some way of easing Greece’s debt crisis and preventing further contagion in the eurozone.

A definitive solution may not emerge on Sunday, however. Finance Minister Michael Noonan frankly admitted yesterday that, on the basis of what had been communicated to him, there was no solution in sight yet.