Merkel will consider Ireland aid appeal 'positively'

(BERLIN) - Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday Germany would consider positively Ireland's request for an EU-IMF bailout, reportedly worth some 85 billion euros (114 billion dollars).

"We have said that the stability of the euro as a whole must be guaranteed and therefore we will ... consider the appeal of Ireland positively," Merkel said in a speech to parliament.

However, she said this was conditional on "making clear what steps a country must take to get back on a path of stabilisation."