The man in charge of the Eurozone bailout fund says there is little hope of Ireland recouping its bank costs. Klaus Regling has told the Wall Street Journal he does not expect the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) fund to cover the costs of saving Irish banks.
Ireland has spent around €30 billion bailing out the surviving banks - money it spent before the bailout fund existed.
The ESM is being used to bailout European banks in future and Ireland has been hoping to get money back retrospectively.
"Member states of the Euro area have said that [moving the government's stakes in bailed-out banks to the bailout fund] will be either difficult or impossible" he said.
He said that Eurozone countries that contribute to the fund are concerned about directly inject capital into unhealthy Eurozone banks in the future because of previous problems, where the responsibility lies with national authorities.
Mr. Regling said the ESM will issue its first long-term bond in October and that its predecessor, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), will continue to issue bonds for the next 30 years.
The EFSF is the entity behind the Irish, Greek and Portuguese bailout - while the ESM is is overseeing the bailouts for Cyprus bailout and Spanish banks.
