Noonan expects more budget demands from EU/IMF

Protests are expected to mar the arrival of the so-called Troika to Ireland today.

Senior officials from the EU, the IMF and the ECB will spend more than a week here, reviewing Ireland's compliance with the terms of the bailout deal.

They are carrying out the quarterly review before agreeing to release the next tranche of money due under the terms of the bailout deal.

This will be the third review of Ireland's bailout deal and, after warnings from the Finance Minister Michael Noonan yesterday, it is expected to centre around the scale of cuts in December's Budget.

Mr Noonan has warned that almost an extra half billion euro of cuts might be needed.

That would mean that instead of the planned correction of €3.6bn, Ireland may need to raise €4bn.

The Minister's warning in the Dáil yesterday indicates that he expects the review to demand further hardships be visited on the people of Ireland.