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class="MsoNormal">Finance minister Michael Noonan begins a whistle-stop tour of European capitals this week to twist the arms of his counterparts to cut Ireland a deal on reducing the €€64 billion thatÂ’s been poured into the banks.

class="MsoNormal">At the last European leadersÂ’ summit in June we were promised that our partners would look at the terms of the bailout, a move Taoiseach Enda Kenny described as a “seismic” shift in our favour.

class="MsoNormal">A deadline of October to get an agreement in place was set by the EU’s economics chief OIli Rehn. But events elsewhere have now pushed Ireland down the agenda and it appears the goal is ebbing away from the government.

class="MsoNormal">Last week’s announcement by the European Central Bank that it will buy unlimited amounts of short-term government bonds to help struggling countries – namely Spain and Italy – has gone down well. But the plan requires those countries to sign up to tough budget cutting measures and surveillance over their economics – something Spain has been opposed to. Until Europe gets to grips with the problems on the continent there is little chance of the Irish bailout being dealt with any time soon.

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The other concern is the attitude of our friends in both the ECB and European governments to Ireland. The ECB president Mario Draghi maintained that Ireland has been exemplary in sticking to the bailout agreement and it was working (at least from FrankfurtÂ’s perspective it is), while the German finance minister Wolfgang Shaeuble warned that any changes must not be seen as undermining international confidence in Ireland. Why would there be any alterations needed when Ireland has successfully returned to the bond market, raising billions from international investors and seen the cost of borrowing come down to below the level in November 2010 when the IMF arrived in town, the suggestion seems to be?

class="MsoNormal">Since JuneÂ’s EU summit there has been fervent speculation about what type of deal Ireland would get. There was little chance that the full €€64billion bailout would be dramatically cut and all the tracker mortgages currently losing money for the banks would be suddenly removed from their books.

class="MsoNormal">The best we can probably hope for is an extension of the time to repay the €€32bn or so in promissory notes, or IOUs, that have been issued by Anglo Irish Bank, probably out to 20 or 30 years.

class="MsoNormal">Another possible good outcome for us is to benefit from DraghiÂ’s “outright monetary transactions” – thatÂ’’s bond buying to you and me. The details are still unclear but the ECB last week hinted countries exiting bailout programmes could see the bank buying up their bonds to smooth the way back into the market.

class="MsoNormal">That doesnÂ’t sound like much as but it may be all that is on the table.

class="MsoNormal"> style="color: #ff0000;">Ian Guider

class="MsoNormal"> style="color: #ff0000;"> href="https://twitter.com/ianguider">@ianguider

class="MsoNormal"> style="color: #ff0000;">Ian is Newstalk’s Business Editor and presents Business Breakfast every weekday from 6:30-7am only on Newstalk 106-108fm.