Repayment period of multi-billion euro loans to Ireland extended

The repayment period for two multi-billion euro loans to Ireland have been extended by up to seven years.

The European Financial Stability Facility - which lent Ireland €17.7bn as part of the bailout - has today decided to extend the maturities of its loans to Ireland and Portugal.

The European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism, which has committed €22.5bn for Ireland was also given a green light by EU finance ministers on Friday to extend loan maturities by seven years.