Troika close to Anglo promissory notes proposal, says Minister

Junior Finance Minister Brian Hayes said today that efforts to renegotiate the Anglo Irish Bank promissory notes debt are approaching an advanced stage.

Minister Hayes refused to be drawn on whether a deal is likely before a €3.1bn payment is due at the end of the month, however.

One report today quoted an un-named Irish official as speculating that a deal will be done by then.

"It's a priority issue for us, we're dealing with this pretty much on a daily basis," said Minister Hayes.

"But in the first instance it's a matter for the troika to produce their position paper, we understand that's at an advanced stage, and then the issue will be translated, if you like, to a political level, where we hope we can make progress.

"But we're not putting deadlines on this, this is very important, there are no unilateral timelines on this from our perspective."