Ireland needs a “straight-talking team” of 11 MEPs to help negotiate a debt write down, the Independent TD believes, but he has not held talks with any of the parties about joining them or getting their support.
The Minister for Finance met with the head of the eurozone’s permanent bailout fund, Klaus Regling, who reiterated his own view that any retrospective deal is not likely at the moment.
Enda Kenny’s comments came prior to those of the European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso last week where he appeared to rule out any retrospective bank deal.
The independent TD said he has had no formal discussions with Fianna Fáil about the possibility of joining the party and running for it in next year’s European elections.
Earlier the Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said that the result of the German election was never going to impact on Ireland’s push for retrospective recapitalisation of its banks.
Leo Varadkar and Pat Rabbitte have both insisted that the discussions on reducing the burden of Ireland’s bank debt will continue despite a report that the ECB had rejected a key Irish government proposal.
Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore will address world leaders – including Angela Merkel – in Chile today as hopes for a deal on Ireland’s bank debt took a blow last night and the opposition criticised the government’s lack of openness.
Hélène Conway-Mouret, who lived in Ireland for 30 years, says that the actions of French president Francois Hollande have helped softened Germany’s view on Ireland’s legacy bank debt.
Michael Noonan and Brendan Howlin meet with Wolfgang Schauble at Farmleigh House in Dublin today where discussions on Ireland’s legacy bank debt are sure to come up.
Gilmore will spend a number of days in Germany, where he will speak on the topic of ‘Moving beyond the crisis – a shared future in Europe’ at a German political foundation.
The government’s campaign for a reduction in the cost of bailing out the banks has been given new hope after a joint statement from Enda Kenny and Angela Merkel, but what do you think?
Pat Rabbitte siad that he would have preferred if Angela Merkel had not made the remarks she made but insisted that an agreement to deal with Ireland’s bank debt still stands.
The Taoiseach conceded that he did not contact the leaders of Finland, the Netherlands and Germany after their finance ministers issued a statement on the bank debt deal.
The Budget, property tax, abortion, bank debt, Luke Ming Flanagan’s t-shirts and James Reilly’s statements – some of what we can expect as the Dáil returns this week.
THE GOVERNMENT HAS announced several new restrictions aimed to reduce Covid-19 risks heading into the Christmas period.
As part of the measures from 7 December to 9 January, nightclubs will close, certain events will be limited to 50% capacity and visits to private homes are advised to be limited to a maximum of three other households (so four households in total).
However, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar noted that this is guidance and not statutory so “there’ll be no gardaí calling to people’s homes, to see how many are inside”.
The measures were agreed following “exceptionally clear” advice from the National Public Health Emergency Team outlining the risks associated with heading into Christmas without restrictions to reduce the volume of personal contacts.
So today we’re asking: Will you limit indoor visits to three other households at a time for the next while?
Partly sunny and chilly with a shower
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Periods of rain
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