Gilmore confident Ireland can achieve interest rate cut

Tánaiste and Foreign Affairs Eamon Gilmore today said he remains confident that Ireland will get a lower interest rate on the European portion of our bailout.

Deputy Gilmore was speaking during a visit to Tanzania, where he met US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and outlined Ireland's recovery plans to her.

On the bailout, the Tánaiste said Ireland has shown patience with other EU members and this needs to pay off.

"We have to get that reduction in the interest rate because it is not fair or sustainable that the country that is making the effort, that is meeting the targets of the EU/IMF bailout, is the country for whom the interest rate decrease is being withheld.

"The Government is going to continue to work to get the interest rate down.

When asked if he had discussed with Mrs Clinton allegations that the US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geitner had vetoed a plan for Ireland to burn bank bondholders, Mr Gilmore said he had not.

He also said it was his belief that no Irish official had ever raised the issue with US counterparts.

Deputy Gilmore and Mrs Clinton are in Tanzania to chair a conference on hunger, where they announced an Irish-US partnership with the African country on tackling infant deaths and increasing nutrition in the first 1,000 days of a child's life.

The US Secretary of State today praised Ireland's aid workers and said her country was proud to team up on the initiative

Some 42% of children under five in Tanzania are malnourished.