Coalition will not accept ‘onerous’ loan rules

The Government will not accept a safety-net precautionary credit line for exiting the troika bailout if the conditions imposed are too stringent and result in it appearing like another bailout.

A senior Government source said yesterday that “if it feels like a second bailout or smells like a second bailout, we won’t be going for it”.

With Finance Minister Michael Noonan in Washington today for talks with the IMF on Ireland’s Dec 15 exit from the bailout, a top economist has warned that while the country can exit without a financing backstop measure, there would be a lot more austerity on the way and Ireland would be likely to default in the future.