Minister for Finance Michael Noonan said there is very little room for further change to the Irish-brokered banking regulation deal agreed last week, which includes the decision to cap bankers' bonuses.
Speaking ahead of a finance ministers meeting this morning in Brussels, Minister Noonan, who is chairing the meeting, said that Ireland had made the "best possible compromise" with the Parliament in negotiations on the capital requirements directive.
"We were very aware of the British position and we certainly got over the line a number of the requests the British had made to us in our bilateral meetings," he said, pointing to the issue of flexibility in particular.
While the British authorities had raised issues about the banker bonus, "there is very little further we can do for them", he said. "We pushed the negotiations to quite a degree and we got the best possible compromise with the Parliament."
Britain is unhappy with last week's decision to cap bankers’ bonuses at 100 per cent of salary, a figure that can increase to 200 per cent under certain circumstances.
The Capital Requirements Directive IV has been making its way through the European Institutions since 2011. The package will strengthen the financial sector and implement international Basel rules on banking.
Last year the European Parliament introduced a series of amendments, including proposals on bankers' pay. Ireland, in its capacity as president of the European Council, took over the negotiation process on behalf of European Union member states, in January.
While Britain has little room to overturn the decision, a final text has not yet been agreed, and finance ministers from all 27 member states are discussing the issue today.
