IRELAND’S EU-IMF BAILOUT interest rate could be cut by around 2 per cent, with our government given more time to repay the debt, under a draft agreement reportedly being discussed in Brussels.

RTÉ News reports that the draft document being discussed would allow Greece to extend its current programme, in which loans are repaid over 7.5 years, to 15 years.

RTÉ’s Europe editor Tony Connolly tweeted that the same terms  - with a cut to 3.5 per cent interest on the EU’s loans – were being offered to Ireland and Portugal.

Ireland currently pays 5.54 per cent on loans that mature in December 2015, and 6.206 per cent on loans that mature in March 2018.

European leaders have been trying to ease the debt burdens on the Eurozone’s bailed-out countries in a bid to try and ease the debt crisis that could otherwise threaten the viability of the single currency.

There was no indication on whether other options previously mooted – such as the prospect of allowing the EFSF to be used to recapitalise struggling banks – were being considered.

A full copy of the leaked draft, published by the Daily Telegraph, contained the note that Ireland had shown “willingness to participate constructively in the discussions on the Consolidated Common Tax Base draft directive”.

Read more on the proposed deal at RTÉ News >

In full: The draft document being discussed in Brussels (Telegraph) >

Enda Kenny speaking in Brussels this morning on his hopes to secure a better deal: