Greek failure to meet targets will not affect Ireland, says Noonan

MINISTER FOR Finance Michael Noonan dismissed talk yesterday of any debt default by Greece as he said the country’s failure to meet its fiscal targets will have no bearing on Ireland.

“I do not think it means very much,” Mr Noonan told reporters when asked about the impact on Ireland from Greece’s confirmation that it will be miss its deficit target this year. “Ireland is not Greece and we are very separate now in our economic progress and in our vital statistics. I do not think there is any crossover effect.”

Mr Noonan was speaking in Luxembourg last night at the outset of two days of talks on the debt crisis. He said the Government will produce a new fiscal plan for the 2012-15 period later this month but gave no details about the initiative.

While euro zone ministers had been expected to approve a crucial €8 billion loan to Greece at this meeting, an ongoing budget review in Athens by the EU-IMF troika means a further meeting will be required next week to release the money.

“I expect we will have a conversation about Greece but I do not expect decisions to be made until the troika reports and I do not think the troika will have reported for this meeting,” he said.

“The work the troika is doing in Athens is very painstaking. They are going into a lot of detail and they won’t report back until they have all the detail dealt with, and as I understand it that is not going to happen for this particular meeting.”

Asked whether the breach of the deficit target meant the prospect of a sovereign default by Greece was closer, the Minister said Athens continued to advance its recovery plan.

“There is a lot of speculation in the media, but I will wait until we get the official report from the troika and I think the Greek authorities seem to be making good progress and I hope that will be reflected in the troika report.”

He also dismissed criticism that Greece was not making sufficient progress with its rescue plan. “That is a view you are expressing, not a view I got from the troika.”

Mr Noonan also predicted that the outcome of the next review of Ireland’s bailout by the EU-IMF troika will be positive.

“The troika have a number of things to discuss in Ireland and we are preparing the ground for that. I think they will be happy with the positions we have taken, we have met the targets again for this quarter.”

The Government had produced considerable legislation under the rescue programme, he said.