Ireland aims to cut debt repayments on EU loans
 		 					Finance minister Michael Noonan says Ireland is bearing 'a disproportionate share' of protecting the banking system
Ireland's finance minister Michael Noonan says that he will exploit the 
eurozone crisis to seek easier bailout terms for his cash-strapped economy.
Speaking  to journalists in Dublin on Wednesday, Noonan stressed that his country  was the success story Europe needed but added that recovery was being  impeded by the burden of debt.
"The European authorities and the  sovereign nations of Europe defend the bailouts of Greece, Ireland and  Portugal on the basis that they will be successful", Noonan said. "They  don't want failure, they want success. Ireland is leading the group in  its potential to be successful."
Noonan is planning what he warned  would be another "tough budget" in two weeks' time, but said he was now  looking for help in ensuring that Ireland's export-led recovery  gathered momentum.
"The overall burden of debt is going to impede growth", Noonan said, commenting on 
IMF  forecasts that Ireland's debt will be 118% of GDP in 2013, a level  similar to that of Italy. "We have borne a disproportionate share of  protecting the European banking system by the actions we took. We have  put that out there so let's see how that develops."
Noonan said  that one avenue being explored was the financing arrangements for  Anglo-Irish, one of the banks bailed out during the crisis.
The  bank was refinanced through a €30bn (£26bn) promissory note – or IOU –  from the European Central Bank, on which Dublin has to make interest  payments. Noonan is looking to extend the period of the loan and to pay a  lower rate of interest. Noonan confirmed that he plans to raise the top  rate of VAT to 23% in the budget on 6 December but pledged there would  be no further increases during the lifetime of the current five-year  parliament. "I am making very definite announcements to provide  certainty. There is a fear of the future."
Asked whether Dublin  had contingency plans for the breakup of the single currency, Noonan  replied: "Not really. We have thought about it but think it's a remote  possibility. We think the euro is going to come through this and will  remain intact."
He added that the time of maximum danger had been  in the week when Greece announced that it would hold a referendum on its  bailout terms.
"We think the euro is a very strong currency. It's  future is as a world reserve currency. The problem is not the euro, it  is certain parts of euroland."
Ireland would have no difficulty in  abiding by tougher budgetary conditions demanded by Germany because it  is doing so, with the Troika making sure four times a year that the  country was meeting the terms of its rescue package before disbursing  bailout funds. In a separate speech to business leaders in Dublin,  Noonan admitted that Ireland was still in difficulty.
"We have to  face the music. There are no soft options. There is no painless way of  making the adjustment. We don't want to go back to where we were before  the recession. That would be going back to a failed model. People are in  denial about the real effects of what has happened. We need a new  business model for Ireland."