Juncker backs Government’s bid to ease debt burden

Ireland’s bid to ease the debt burden got public support from the head of the eurogroup just days before the Government expects a decision on its bid to postpone the €3.1bn Anglo payment.

At a public hearing in the European Parliament, Jean-Claude Juncker said: “There are good reasons to ease the burden which has been put on Ireland, as far as the debt service.”

He said he was not in a position to make a “public announcement” on the matter, but Labour MEP Nessa Childers, who attended the hearing, warned that Ireland’s debt was not sustainable. “The Irish firewall will not hold,” she said.