Irish fin min sees some leeway to ease Greek debt burden

DUBLIN (Reuters) - There is some leeway to make Greece's debt more affordable by finding a new arrangement on the length and interest rates of its loans, Ireland's finance minister said following a meeting of euro zone finance chiefs on Monday. Michael Noonan said there was a general sympathy for the Greek people at the meeting in Brussels and a willingness to engage with the new government but that most ministers would like to protect the money they had already lent Athens on behalf of their own taxpayers. "Making debt more affordable is a better solution than writing it off. The solution for Greece's debt problem is a new arrangement on the length of their loans and the interest rates to be paid and there is still some leeway even though these have been adjusted before," Noonan told Irish broadcaster RTE. (Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Dominic Evans)