The Minister for Finance says it is possible that Irish banks will need further bailouts. Michael Noonan said it was always possible that stress tests next year would reveal further difficulties in the banking sector.

However the Minister said the Central Bank is confident that Irish banks are sound and need no further help.

Minister Noonan says others will be asked to shoulder the burden before there is any prospect of the taxpayer taking a hit.

Meanwhile the Minister has suggested he would like Ireland to make a clean break from the EU-IMF bailout. Minister Michael Noonan has a month to decide whether Ireland will apply for a precautionary loan to ease its way back into the markets.

He says he sees advantages to both a second bailout fund and to making a clean break.

But he says the recent cut to ECB interest rates should make the cost of borrowing for Ireland even lower than before.

"There's a kind of a window now where things are calm internationally - calm in Europe, calm in Ireland - and the interest rate reduction announced last week by the European Central Bank obviously reflects back into interest rates in general" he said.

"So I'm reflecting on that, and in due course I'll advise the government" he added.