The European Central Bank President appears to have ruled out debt relief for Ireland's banking burden.
Speaking at a press conference after the ECB held rates at 1%, Mario Draghi suggested that Ireland was not far from being able to return to the markets.
Mr Draghi said he "warmly welcomed" Ireland's vote to approve the Fiscal Treaty.
He said it showed the Irish believed fiscal stability was a "basic pillar for growth".
"I don't think there was any grounds for a quid pro quo,'' Mr Draghi said when asked about debt relief for the banking bailout after the yes vote.
He said the spread on Government bonds had fallen for more for Ireland than for other countries. He added this showed "a return to market access is not a far distant perspective."
He said Ireland had made "substantial progress" on fiscal restructuring and bank consolidation.
On Spain, Mr Draghi said the board of the IMF would be presented with a report on the country on Friday.
He said the Spanish authorities had engaged independent assessments of its banking system and added "we await a realistic assessment of the need to recapitalise."
Euro zone rates remain at 1%
Earlier, the European Central Bank left interest rates at 1% today, dashing some market expectations that it might move quickly to combat fears about the health of the euro zone.
Markets were unsure how the ECB would react to the recent wave of weak economic data, knowing that the bank also wants to keep the pressure on euro zone leaders to tackle the crisis more effectively.
Mr Draghi said that a number of euro zone central bank chiefs had wanted the ECB to cut its key rates this month. The decision to hold rates steady was "taken by very broad consensus," he added.
In recent months, the decision to hold rates steady has been unanimous on the ECB's governing council. But some observers have suggested the ECB will lower its interest rates to less than 1% for the first time ever as the long-running euro zone debt crisis deepens.
However, the majority of analysts believe the bank will wait at least until next month before doing so. By that time the outcome of the Greek parliamentary elections on June 17 will be known. Greece is heading to the polls for a second time in six weeks after an inconclusive vote on May 6.
And with the radical leftist Syriza party, chief opponent of a massive EU-IMF bailout accord, tipped to win this time, the election could lead to Greece quitting the single currency.
The European Central Bank also said today it will extend its measures for the provision of unlimited liquidity to euro zone banks at least until the end of this year.
ECB president Mario Draghi told a news conference that the bank had decided to continue conducting its main refinancing operations - one-week and one-month loans - "at fixed-rate tender procedures with full allotment for as long as necessary, and at least until January 2013."
In addition, special three-month refinancing operations, which had been due to expire at the end of June, would be extended until the end of 2012, Draghi said.
"Keeping in mind that all our non-standard monetary policy measures are temporary in nature, we will monitor further developments closely and ensure medium-term price stability for the euro area by acting in a firm and timely manner," Draghi said.
ECB holds 2012 growth, inflation forecasts steady
The European Central Bank today held steady its forecasts for both economic growth and inflation in the euro zone.
ECB President Mario Draghi said the "the baseline scenario of our projections didn't change."
Some analysts had been expecting the bank to revise its growth and inflation forecasts downward sharply, bolstering the case for additional rate cuts for the 17 countries that share the euro.
But the ECB is continuing to expect euro zone gross domestic product growth (GDP) to contract marginally by 0.1% this year, the same forecast it had made three months ago, according to the latest updated projections.
And the projection for next year was trimmed only slightly to 1% from 1.1% previously.
At the same time, euro area-wide inflation was to reach 2.4% in 2012, way above the ECB's target of close to but just below 2%. And inflation would slow to 1.6% in 2013, the bank predicted.
Both inflation forecasts were unchanged from March.
US and UK urge Europe to move quick
US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron have called on Europe to come up with an "immediate plan" to resolve the euro zone crisis, but Germany turned down today a plea for swift help from Spain.
Mr Obama and Mr Cameron kept up that pressure, agreeing in a late-night telephone call "on the need for an immediate plan to tackle the crisis and to restore market confidence, as well as a longer-term strategy to secure a strong single currency," according to a Downing Street spokeswoman.
The White House says it hopes for "expedited action" by Europeans to tackle the debt crisis in the coming weeks in the lead up to G20 summit.
