The President of the European Commission has angrily rejected suggestions that terms of Ireland's EU bail-out would make vassals of Irish taxpayers, insisting that Ireland was responsible for its own problems.
Socialist MEP Joe Higgins had described the EU's Permanent Stability Mechanism as nothing more than a mechanism to cushion European banks from the consequences of reckless speculation in the Irish market.
He told Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso that Europe was being led around by the nose by the financial markets.
However, Mr Barroso said Ireland's problems were created by some Irish financial institutions and by a lack of supervision in the Irish market. He said that Europe is now part of the solution, but it was not Europe which had created the situation.
He told the European Parliament that those who had made comments 'against solidarity' were trying to deepen the cleavages between rich and poor.
Support for lowering bail-out rates - source
There is 'support' within the European Commission for a possible lowering of the interest rates Ireland will pay for the €85 billion EU IMF bail-out, well-placed EU sources have told RTÉ.
'The timing is right,' said one source. 'The Commission could be sympathetic,' it added.
Ireland will pay on average 5.8% for the loan, much cheaper than what it would pay on the international market but still a relatively high amount, according to economic observers.
The pricing structure of the loans was agreed unanimously by EU finance ministers in May when they put together the overall €750 billion EU rescue fund in the wake of the Greek debt crisis.
At the time member states like Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Finland and Slovakia were determined to ensure that the interest rates connected to the fund were 'dissuasive' in order to prevent countries seeing the bail-out as an easy option.
However, the EU source pointed out that Germany had not immediately dismissed talk of reducing the interest rates.
The source compared it to Germany's swift rejection of the euro bonds idea when it was proposed by the Luxembourg Prime Minister - and the chair of the eurogroup - Jean-Claude Juncker.
It is understood the European Commission has sympathy for Ireland's position because of the need to balance the dissuasive element of the interest rates with the need to ensure they do not further cripple the economy of the recipient countries.
'The rates should be dissuasive, but at the same time not too much of a burden,' the source told RTÉ News.
While Finance Minister Brian Lenihan placed the issue on the agenda of Monday's meeting of euro zone finance ministers, the idea of lowering the rates has been in and out of discussion since the €110 billion Greek bail-out last April.
However, the significance now is that the issue is on the table and is being discussed.
The significance of the timing is that the EU is currently working on a potential plan to increase the capacity and scope of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), which is currently worth €440 billion.
There are moves to increase the capacity of the fund and to make it more flexible, and in that context the question of the interest rates charged will form part of the discussions.
The European Commission would like the re-adjustment of the EFSF to be completed by the time EU leaders meet for a special summit on February 4. But according to a number of member states, it is more likely to be completed by the formal spring summit on March 24-25.
If there is to be agreement on lowering the interest rates it is more likely to be done by the March summit. Any decision on the rates would have to be taken unanimously by euro zone member states. However, the European Commission's support may well have an influence.
It is understood a number of other countries are interested in the question of interest rates - Greece, Spain and Portugal .For obvious reasons Portugal can not be seen to publicly support the idea, due to persistent rumours and market expectation that it will be next to seek a bail-out.
