European Central Bank (ECB) president Jean Claude Trichet has today signalled that slashing interest rates to deal with the continuing debt crisis is not on the ECB agenda.
Mr Trichet's comments come as new figures from the Irish Central Bank show that thousands more homeowners are now in mortgage arrears.
Members of the European Parliament have called on the ECB to cut interest rates, similar to what the Federal Reserve in the US did earlier this summer.
"Everybody understands that particularly in the present situation that the ECB would maintain a solid anchoring of inflation expectations," said Trichet.
"All countries would be hampered [by becoming unanchored]."