'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.
He added: “We took note of an action that is being undertaken by the Irish Government.”
It is understood the Government put forward a plan to change expensive promissory notes used to fund the former Anglo, into long-term government bonds.
A finance source in Dublin later said that the proposal to reschedule the Anglo debt had not been opposed at the ECB meeting in Frankfurt.
“There are no roadblocks to it,” the source said.
Finance Minister Michael Noonan is due to detail the finer points of the new repayment scheme to the Dáil this afternoon.
