EU prepares for bailout of Ireland

Associated Press

BRUSSELS

A European Union meeting over Ireland’s debt crisis has ended with officials saying that Ireland hasn’t asked for a bailout — but that preparations have “intensified” for possible help for the country’s troubled banking sector.

Olli Rehn, European Union monetary-affairs chief, says that “the Irish authorities are committed to working” with the EU, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund to calm market turmoil.

Rehn said Tuesday that there was “an intensification of preparations of a potential program in case it is requested.”

The 16-country eurozone has been shaken by concerns that Ireland will be unable to pay the cost of rescuing its banks, which has already reached 45 billion.