Irish PM complains about bailout interest rate in US

On a St Patrick’s Day visit to Washington, Ireland’s newly elected prime minister Enda Kenny continued to gripe about the interest rate that the EU and the International Monetary Fund is charging Dublin for its bailout.

In an interview with Bloomberg Television Kenny said it was “unfair” on Ireland’s tax payers calling the 5.8 percent average rate Ireland pays for its loans “too severe.”

He also stressed that there is no chance of Ireland cutting its low corporate-tax rat as part of a bailout package.

Kenny said: “It is grossly unfair to expect the taxpayer to have to pay 100 percent for the reckless lending practices of banks which caused this in the first instance.”

After a meeting with US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner during his visit, Kenny also said it was possible that Ireland could talk to the US about borrowing money from the Federal Reserve as part of the plan to rescue the Irish banking system.

Copyright © 2012 euronews