Communications, Energy & Natural Resources Minister Pat Rabbitte has told the Wall Street Journal a deal on the promissory notes being used to bail out the former Anglo Irish Bank will be struck "in the next few weeks".
According to the paper, Minister Rabbitte said an agreement aimed at reducing the cost of the notes would be agreed before the next repayment of €3.1 billion, due on March 31.
Finance Minister Michael Noonan has been working on trying to restructure the notes. The EU, IMF and ECB last month said they were working on a technical paper on the issue.
After a meeting with ECB chief Mario Draghi last month, Mr Noonan said it was too early to say if the Government would be successful in its efforts, and it was not setting any deadline on the issue.
