Hayes: No deal on Irish debt before German general election

Junior Finance Minister Brian Hayes said today that a deal on Ireland's bank debt is unlikely before September.

The Coalition is hoping to use Europe's permanent bailout pot, the European Stability Mechanism, to recoup the billions of euro of taxpayers' money put into Bank of Ireland, AIB and Permanent TSB.

This week, ECB head Mario Draghi signalled support for a deal on Ireland's bank debt.

However Junior Finance Minister Hayes said that he doesn't expect to see one materialise until after Germany's general election.

'I want to be honest politically about this," he said. "I don’t see any particular movement on this until the other side of a German general election, which will occur in September of this year.

"I think Germany are so important to this, their position on this is going to be important, it's going to be difficult for them to take a definitive position on this in advance of their general election and I think we'll have to wait and see the outcome of that."