The Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has said that the government would not be unduly concerned if the October deadline to secure agreement on reducing Ireland's bank deadline was extended into November.
Speaking in Paris following a meeting with his French counterpart Mr Noonan said that the government would like to have a deal before December's budget but that it wasn't essential.
"It might be in the Irish interest if the timeline were extended somewhat," he said.
"It would be ironic if we agreed to something before the end of October and a more advantageous arrangement was available later after an arrangement with Spain was concluded."
The government is hoping that the use of the permanent bailout mechanism, the ESM, to recapitalise Spanish banks will act as a precedent allowing the retroactive recapitalisation of Irish banks to lower the bank debt legacy.
Mr Noonan said there were still disagreements between the government and the ECB on a way to replace the Anglo Irish Bank promissory notes.
"It's an open secret that the Irish position and the ECB position aren't totally aligned, but technical work continues," he said.
Mr Noonan was in Paris as part of a three capital tour to drum up political support for whatever technical arrangements the troika reach in order to reduce Ireland's bank debt.
This follows the commitment by EU heads of government in June to help alleviate the Irish bank debt burden.
In July the eurogroup of finance ministers agreed that the deal should be reached by the end of October, but there are increasing signs that this may not be possible.
He said his talks with Pierre Moscovici, the French Finance Minister were positive and that there was a clear understanding of the Irish position.
He said that any technical agreement reached at troika level would have to be signed off by EU leaders, and that he was hoping to gain support for that outcome in his trip to Berlin later today and to Rome tomorrow.
Mr Noonan told reporters that a deal on bank debt didn't change the arithmetic of December's budget, insisting that any gains would be used to make Ireland's debt more sustainable.
