'No roadblocks' to bank-debt deal

The Government is understood to have reached an agreement with the European Central Bank (ECB) to ease the €28bn debt burden from the nationalisation of Anglo Irish Bank.

Following months of delicate negotiations between the Government and the Frankfurt finance authorities, ECB president Mario Draghi declined to discuss the deal in detail, and would only say: “The governing council unanimously took note of the Irish operation. This was not a decision for us to take.