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Irish cabinet will meet on crisis plan

Dublin - Ireland's cabinet will hold an emergency meeting on Sunday to finalise a four-year deficit crisis plan seen as key to winning an international bailout and easing fears about the future of the euro.

The meeting comes as the Irish officials hold a fourth day of tense talks with the European Union, European Central Bank (ECB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) on financial assistance worth tens of billions of euros.

Concerns are growing that the huge deficit racked up by the one-time "Celtic Tiger" as it tried to save its banks could have a knock-on effect on other weak economies like Portugal, echoing the Greek crisis earlier this year.

A spokesperson for the government of Prime Minister Brian Cowen said the Irish cabinet would meet "in the middle of the afternoon" to finalise its austerity measures, with reports saying an announcement was expected on Tuesday.

The cabinet would not discuss the international bailout "but the two (issues) are related," the spokesman said.

The new austerity drive is looking to save €15bn up to 2014.

Dublin has pumped some €50bn into the country's stricken banks, pushing its public deficit to 32% of output -- more than 10 times the EU limit.

Cowen said Saturday that the four-year plan was "very well advanced", adding that its outline had already won the approval of EU economic affairs commissioner Olli Rehn.

The international mission is subjecting Ireland's books to forensic analysis, with Cowen's government trying to deflect fears about a loss of sovereignty while defending a wafer-thin parliamentary majority.

The bailout package could be worth between €40bn and €100bn.

But a key sticking point is Ireland's refusal to compromise on its long-cherished 12.5% rate of corporate tax, believed to be key in attracting foreign investment.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy waded into the debate on Saturday, saying he could not imagine that Dublin would not raise tax rates.

"Faced with a situation like this, there are two levers they can pull: spending and receipts. I cannot imagine that our Irish friends... would not use this because they have more room for manoeuvre than others, their taxes being lower than all the others.

"It's not a demand, it's an opinion," he added.

The tax has helped to encourage companies to re-locate to the republic but EU heavyweights such as Germany claim the low rate gives Ireland an unfair advantage which helped its economy boom over the past decade and a half.

In the past three years Ireland's public finances have been ravaged by the costly banking sector rescues, a property market meltdown and the global recession.

EU President Herman Van Rompuy has warned that the 27-nation bloc's very future could be at stake amid the Irish debt crisis.

But German Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle insisted Saturday Ireland's problems had not put the eurozone in danger, saying the €440bn European Financial Stability Facility set up in May at the height of the Greek drama was an "effective instrument."

Greece was forced to take a €110bn rescue package from the EU.

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