Ireland will not give up "vital assets" to get a cut in the bailout interest rate, Minister for Finance Michael Noonan said today, insisting that Ireland's corporate tax rate was not up for discussion.

Speaking in Brussels today, Mr Noonan said seeking new concessions from countries involved in the rescue programmes to get a lower interest rate was "not the smartest way of ensuring the programmes succeed".

"It would be useful to get cheaper money, it would be more affordable," he said. "But we're not going to give away any of Ireland's vital interests in exchange. And we consider the corporation tax rate one of our vital interests and essential to our industrial programme."

Earlier today, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said Ireland needs "greater flexibility" from its European Union partners as it continues to focus on achieving a rate cut on the bailout package.

"What we need is less money and greater flexibility," Mr Kenny said in an interview with RTÉ today.

He said that France's demands that Ireland change its 12.5 per cent corporate tax rate is "beyond their scope".

France is among a number of European countries that have pressed for Ireland to increase its corporate tax rate in return for a cut in the interest rate on the bailout loans.

Mr Kenny also said that Ireland has no intention of defaulting on its debt.

The International Monetary Fund yesterday praised the Government’s efforts to dig Ireland out of the economic crisis and said it was disbursing another $2.24 billion (€1.58 billion) of loans to it after reviewing the country’s performance.

“Ireland is making progress in overcoming the worst economic crisis in recent history,” said the IMF. With the latest disbursement, Ireland will have received about $10.19 billion from the IMF under the joint loan programme with the EU.

Deputy IMF managing director Naoyuki Shinohara said Ireland had made “a strong start” at righting its economy since the programme was put in place late last year. “Resolute policy implementation by the authorities has kept the program on track during a period of political change and an unsettled external environment,” Mr Shinohara said.

The IMF said Ireland was on track to meet its 2011 fiscal adjustment targets and said the new Government was committed to a medium-term fiscal consolidation that will help achieve the goals set for it under the loan programme.

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan

is in Brussels yesterday for two days of talks on the financial crisis. He pressed for a long-awaited cut in the cost of the Irish bailout as EU ministers prepared to levy a lower interest charge on Portugal’s rescue loans than on Ireland’s loans. "Greece has got a lower interest rate already and that will be endorsed. Portugal are still negotiating,” he said. “The expectation is that they will get a lower interest rate.”

While EU ministers signalled their formal approval of the €78 billion Portuguese bailout in during the evening, they did not make public the interest rate. However, the “margin” on Portugal’s loans was expected to be around 0.75 of a percentage point below the 2.95 percentage point fee which applies to Ireland’s bailout.

The margin is levied above the borrowing costs of the euro zone bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility, and the European Commission’s rescue fund, the European Financial Stability Mechanism.

The commission is considering an application from Mr Noonan to extend the eligible liabilities guarantee scheme for the banking sector for six months from July.

However, Mr Noonan said the guarantee was not on the agenda for the meeting.

The top item for discussion was the troubled Greek rescue, but those talks were overshadowed by sex assault charges against IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

Without naming France or Germany, Mr Noonan said “some individual countries” were looking for further conditionality from Ireland in return for a rate cut. He also made it clear he did not anticipate the Irish interest rate would be settled at the talks.

However, he expected his counterparts to formally endorse Ireland’s revised memorandum of understanding with the EU-IMF troika. “The focus isn’t on Ireland today. Ireland is on the agenda . . . There will be no problem with endorsement.”

Additional reporting: Reuters, Bloomberg