Ireland to unveil austerity plan

The four-year plan targets total cuts of 15bn euros ($20bn; £13bn), or 11 percent of the Irish economy's annual output. Meanwhile, Taoiseach Brian Cowen confirmed he was negotiating a bail-out package with the EU and IMF, to be worth about 85bn euros.On the markets, the euro continued to fall against the dollar, and yields on Irish government debt rose sharply.

At a heated session of the Irish Parliament, Cowan said that bail-out negotiations were ongoing, and that no final figure had been agreed. He described the package as an "overdraft", which would continue to be available and could be drawn upon as required, and stressed that the government would have had to borrow the money from international investors in any case.