Ireland’s bank debt deal hopes slip away

Hopes of a deal on Ireland’s bank debt slipped further away as Germany’s finance minister signalled there would be no reworking of such debt at a European level until 2014.

However, Wolfgang Schäuble, the German finance minister, said Ireland was on track to exit its bailout programme by the end of next year.

Speaking in Dublin after talks with Irish ministers, he said Germany was impressed with Ireland’s progress on fighting the debt crisis.