Ireland dismisses 'ludicrous' talk of second bailout

(DUBLIN) - Irish Finance Minister Michael Noonan dismissed speculation about a second bailout for the eurozone member as "ludicrous" on Wednesday.

Noonan's remarks followed suggestions that Ireland, which was bailed out in 2010, should consider negotiating a standby bailout programme in case it is not able to return to borrowing on the international markets.

"It is ludicrous to be talking about a second bailout when we are in (the first programme) and meeting all the targets in the first programme," Noonan said referring to economist reports on the country.

"We are a year into the rescue programme which was negotiated by the previous government and we are fully funded to the back end of 2013.

"So it's really speculation by economists who, at the start of the new year, speculate on these matters," Noonan added.

Ireland received an 85-billion-euro ($108-billion) bailout in November 2010 from the so-called troika of the EU, ECB and IMF as massive debt and deficit problems left the country on the verge of collapse.

Meanwhile national broadcaster RTE reported that confidential documents released to it by the US government show that US officials are concerned that the Irish bailout could be derailed by poor growth and a lack of government spending.

RTE says the documents detail how US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner used a meeting with Noonan to assess domestic threats to the Irish bailout.

The report said officials encouraged Geithner to quiz Noonan on how the Irish economy could grow when its main trading partners were experiencing problems, noting that the success of Ireland's bailout programme would depend heavily on export growth.