Minister for Finance Michael Noonan said European officials will be working on the Anglo Irish Bank promissory note issue over the weekend.
"There are some technical difficulties which are being worked out but I am hopeful that we will get a result along the lines that I indicated," he told RTÉ today. "It is not medium-term. It's something that has to be done fairly quickly."
Mr Noonan told the Dáil yesterday that negotiations with EU authorities to avoid a cash payment on its banking debt continued in Dublin and Frankfurt yesterday.
The State is due to make a €3.1 billion payment to the former Anglo Irish at the end of the month, which is then supposed to use the funds to reduce its emergency borrowings from the Central Bank. The payment relates to the State’s bill for Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide.
Instead, the lender may use the funds to buy a new Government bond, meaning no net cash outflow from the State.
Mr Noonan said he remained as hopeful of a successful outcome to the negotiations as he was when he first announced the breakthrough in the Dáil on Wednesday night.
Additional reporting: Bloomberg
