Ministers expected to approve next tranche of funds for Ireland

Finance Minister Michael Noonan will join his Eurozone counterparts for talks in Brussels today.

They are aiming to tie down details of how to bolster the EFSF, which it is hoped will ultimately be a bailout fund worth €1trn.

Ministers are also expected to approve the next round of funding for Ireland and Greece.

The countdown is on to yet another crucial EU summit next week, with some commentators predicting that the current structure of the single currency is entering its final phases.

Nick Bullman of consultancy firm CheckRisk believes a change is now "probable", not "possible".

Mr Bullman said: "Ireland has done the right things so far, so hopefully Ireland should be able to make the case that it should be in the Northern block Europe currencies when those develop.

"Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, France hopefully, and a few other countries being able to join and agreeing to some sort sort of non-European dominated fiscal arrangement."