Finance Minister Michael Noonan has laid out plans to repay the country's bailout loans from the International Monetary Fund in a letter to Germany's finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble.
The Bloomberg news agency said the letter, which was sent on August 27, noted that the country's bond yield was now about 2% compared to the 5% fee on the IMF loans.
In the letter, Mr Noonan said the country would seek to repay the IMF over the next 18-24 months, adding that the "repayment would depend critically on how markets would respond to extra Irish bond sales".
Last month, European Union finance ministers reached a provisional deal that would allow Ireland to make an early repayment of IMF bailout loans.
The ministers, meeting in Milan, said an early pay-off of most of the €22.5 billion that the IMF lent Ireland as part of its 2010 rescue would help boost the country’s recovery.
Several countries, including Germany, must get formal approval from their national parliaments to allow an early repayment before they can take a final decision. It would then have to be signed off by euro-area finance ministry representatives.
