Irish PM says no emergency budget planned over coronavirus

Ireland has no plans to introduce an emergency budget to deal with the coronavirus outbreak and if it does it will be months away, Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said on Wednesday.

"If an emergency budget is required it is probably required at the end of the emergency because when the emergency is over we will know what the bill is - what we need to do to stimulate the economy - and if we have the financial firepower to do that," he said.

Ireland on Tuesday said the cost of financial measures introduced to deal with the coronavirus fallout was close to 7 billion euros, and on Wednesday the national debt agency said it was well-placed to raise additional funding.