A deal agreed late on Thursday night at the EU leaders summit in Brussels is being variously described as a “seismic shift” in EU policy by Taoiseach Enda Kenny and as a “game changer” in relation to Ireland’s debt commitments by Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore. The tentative deal, the technical details of which still have to be finalised, will in essence mean that the the European Stability Mechanism will be able to recapitalise banks directly instead of governments, which increases sovereign debt.

The change in policy will now effectively allow Ireland to potentially re-engineer its overall debt level. Speaking in Brussells, Mr.Kenny said that what was previously thought of as being unachievable had  now “become a reality”