Speaking on Ireland’s RTE radio, Mr. Lenihan said the application would be approved at a cabinet meeting later Sunday in Dublin.
The bailout would be in the tens of billions of euros, he said, adding that the final figure was subject to further negotiations.
His announcement ended a feverish bout of speculation on the rescue talks, which took on added urgency this weekend as the depth of the problems in the Irish banking sector became known to I.M.F. and European officials. People briefed on the talks said that the fear had grown that without swift action, a full-fledged banking panic might materialize on Monday.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Brian Cowen insisted that no form of debt restructuring would be on the table, despite a growing cry in Ireland and abroad for the bondholders — who financed the boom that has brought such a painful aftermath in this country — to share some of the pain.
“Under Irish law, senior bondholders rank pari passu with depositors,” Mr. Cowen said, meaning each had equal rights. His government has been roundly criticized for a blanket guarantee of the country’s banks and bondholders in 2008. Irish bank debts are now estimated at €70 billion, or $96 billion, almost one-half the country’s annual economic output.
Mr. Cowen also asserted that the country’s low corporate tax rate and four-year plan to reduce the budget would not be substantially changed.
“Unlike other countries, we have already made our adjustments,” Mr. Cowen said, speaking to a small group of reporters and voters on this island of 500 or so people just off the northern coast of Ireland. “Our tax rate is 12.5 percent and it is transparent, and it is a matter for the national government.”
However, at a NATO meeting in Lisbon, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France said he could not imagine that Ireland would decline to raise its corporate tax rate. But he said that would not be a condition of any bailout.
Mr. Cowen is facing stiff political pressure from opposing parties who say that his decision in 2008 to guarantee bank liabilities had jeopardized the country’s fiscal future.
Campaigning for the local Fianna Fail candidate in a coming election, Mr. Cowen flew to Arranmore on Friday night while his finance minister, Mr. Lenihan, led negotiations with the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission back in Dublin.
Mr. Cowen also said the current interest rates of 8 percent demanded by buyers of Irish government bonds were “prohibitive” and indicated that as long as they remained that high, Ireland could not borrow more from the financial markets.
For the 250 or so voters on the island, the main issue is fishing. They want to change E.U. restrictions that prevent them from catching more salmon from the surrounding waters.
Mr. Cowen was met at the ferry dock by a handful of fishermen and their children, who held up signs that said, “Please let my Daddy fish.”
After huddling with a delegation of petitioners, in addition to the local priest, Mr. Cowen responded to journalists who asked why he was spending his Saturday on the island, and not in Dublin, as Ireland’s financial future was being decided.
Mr. Cowen batted away the notion that he was missing important state business and said he would return to Dublin on Sunday, where he would head the cabinet meeting that would deal with the final details of the country’s four-year plan to reduce the deficit to 3 percent of gross domestic product from the current 32 percent.
“It is important to meet the people,” he said, as he nodded toward a small group of weather-beaten locals who were watching from the side. “There are dire issues here regarding salmon fishing, and it is my job to have a good discussion with them about this.”
He did say that some form of a “contingency fund” could be the answer — underlining a broad view in the government that what is needed to restore confidence in Ireland’s finances is the establishment of a fund big enough that it could be used to help operate the government and at the same time provide capital to its banks.
Analysts at Barclays Capital estimate that banks would need €22 billion to €37 billion and that the government would need €63 billion if it were to remain out of the bond market through 2013.
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