Noonan bid to fend off referendum on deficits

FINANCE Minister Michael Noonan travels to Berlin today to convince his German counterpart not to force a referendum on Ireland.

The Government needs to reassure Germany that putting a ban on budget deficits into national legislation will be enough.

But despite weeks of arguments and negotiations, Berlin is insisting that it wants to ensure that the debt brake could not be abandoned easily, and this requires putting it into the constitution.