The Department of Finance said today the need for legislation to allow it to contribute to a potential aid package for Greece is a "technical issue".
Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan will bring the legislation to the Dáil in "the next couple of weeks", a spokesman for the department said today. The law is likely to be passed within a couple of months.
European governments agreed yesterday to offer Greece a rescue package worth as much as €45 billion at below-market interest rates in a bid to stem the country's fiscal crisis. Ireland would have a contribution of about €490 million, based on its shareholding in the European Central Bank, according to Dublin-based Glas Securities.
Greece's budget deficit widened to 12.9 per cent of gross domestic product last year, more than four times the European Union limit of 3 per cent. Ireland's deficit was 11.7 per cent.
Bloomberg