“Two key policy options put forward last week by Fine Gael have already been shot down by EU partners and by the IMF”, Minister for European Affairs Dick Roche.

“In the run up to last week’s EU Council Fine Gael bombarded the media with two claims regarding policies which Enda Kenny said could save Irish taxpayers billions.

The two claims have been comprehensively dismissed by the IMF and EU partners.

First Fine Gael claimed that Enda Kenny would be in a position to have the rate of interest on the IMF/EU loan facility reduced because of his involvement with the European People’s Party (EPP), the group to which the German Chancellor, Mrs Merkel’s party is affiliated.

Kenny’s claims were rubbished as "complete nonsense" by the German Minister for European Affairs, Werner Hoyer at a press conference in Brussels on Thursday.

Minister Hoyer told the Irish Independent "I think this is complete nonsense and should not be used for domestic political gains. The Irish Government has negotiated a very difficult deal and it has done so very successfully.”

The second in command at the IMF has also rubbished the Fine Gael claims telling journalists “… the interest rate on money lent to Ireland by the IMF would not change as it was the standard rate for all IMF member countries.”

Last Thursday Edna Kenny a meeting in Brussels that he could save up to €17 billion by refusing to pay back senior bondholders for monies they had lent to Irish Banks. Within hours this claim was challenged, by the second in command of the IMF.

On Thursday Mr Ajai Chopra, who led the IMF delegation to Dublin told reporters that “the view of European partners has been that the systemic impact of reneging on senior bondholders would be too great." When pressed as to whether he agreed that imposing losses on senior bondholders was too risky he said "yes, full stop".

The statements by Minister Hoyer and Mr Chopra support the view of the Government on both the interest rate for the Irish loan facility and that the idea of unilateral default on senior bondholders is a non runner.

The events of last week again demonstrate that Fine Gael is willing to distort the facts in the ongoing debate on Ireland’s financial position and to mislead the Irish public. Enda Kenny and his party should apologise for his crude attempt to mislead the Irish people in this most important debate ” Minister Roche concluded.