German Finance Minister points to 'misunderstanding' on bailout deal
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said today that Ireland is a special case in terms of its banking debt.
Minister Schaeuble was in Dublin today to meet with Finance Minister Michael Noonan and the Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin.
He said he was impressed by Ireland's progress under the bailout programme and he expects us to exit the programme in 2014 as planned.
Tensions had started to appear between the Irish and German governments following previous statements that Minister Schaeuble did not want Ireland to get a special deal.
He has now said that was merely a "misunderstanding", however.
"There has been some misunderstanding," he said.
"I think that … the common declaration of Taoiseach Kenny and Chancellor Merkel has made it totally clear that this has been a misunderstanding."
