Taoiseach Enda Kenny said Ireland won't default on its debt as he tries to rebuild confidence at a time when investors speculate Greece may struggle to pay back its borrowings.
"The Greek government will obviously deal with this problem in the best way it can," said Mr Kenny in an interview on Bloomberg Television's Last Word in London today.
"We have no intention of defaulting. We've made that perfectly clear. We want to continue to pay our way."
Irish, Greek and Portuguese bonds fell today amid mounting speculation Greece will have to restructure its debt. All three countries have sought bailouts from the European Union and International Monetary Fund, and the Irish Government wants a reduction on the rate on its loans, which he has described as "too severe."
"We're not looking for more money from Europe, we're looking for greater flexibility," Mr Kenny said, referring to the rate on the bailout and to medium-term financing for lenders from the European Central Bank.
He also said that an increase in Ireland's 12.5 per cent corporation-tax rate to appease fellow EU leaders is "not up for negotiation."
Last month the Government pledged to inject additional capital of as much as €24 billion into lenders after mounting losses forced the country ask for external help in November.
Minister for Finance Michael Noonan said last week it's important to reach an agreement on lower bailout rates before the country taps "serious tranches of money."
Mr Kenny said that Anglo Irish Bank, which is being wound down, may not need further capital.
"The indications are that it won't need extra capital," Mr Kenny said, ahead of a planned update in May on the cost of bailing out Anglo Irish and smaller rival Irish Nationwide Building Society.
"We've made it perfectly clear that senior bondholders in Anglo Irish and INBS" are a "different category" to those in Ireland's other banks, he said.
Mr Kenny said the Government has "plenty of time" before interest payments due in October or November "to demonstrate the seriousness of intent" about tackling the country's banking and fiscal problems.
"We believe that growth projections and initiatives that were taken will lead Ireland to a position where we fix what's been broken" and generate economic growth, he said.
Earlier Mr Kenny warned of further cuts in public service pay if the Croke Park agreement is not implemented quickly and in full.
He said under the terms of the EU/IMF memorandum of understanding there are “consequences” to be paid if the agreement is not implemented.
"What we want to do now is to give a renewed impetus to implementing the Croke Park agreement which was signed off on in full as quickly as possible, and that means that those reforms have to be accelerated," he said in an interview on RTÉ's Morning Ireland.
Mr Kenny said: “The Government does not wish to see a situation where public pay rates are cut . . . we’ve made that very clear, and the big condition of that is implementing the Croke Park agreement.
“To all of those, whether it be management or union or whatever, there is a duty on everybody to see that that happens otherwise the conditions of the memorandum of understanding speak for themselves.
“We’ve got a time window here in which to implement the agreement in full and let’s get on with that.”
Mr Kenny also said the Government is committed to raising €2 billion from the sale of State assets as it seeks to tackle the country's debt burden.
The Government will consider the McCarthy report on State assets and publish it as quickly as possible, Mr Kenny said.
Separately, the Taoiseach said he did not agree with the establishment of a common consolidated corporate tax base as a trade-off for a lower interest rate on the State’s bailout loans.
“We’ve a very healthy scepticism about a common consolidate corporate tax base and I don’t agree with it . . . I think it will be very bad for Europe in that corporate decisions to invest globally would be impacted upon by having such a system.”
Mr Kenny is in London to discuss Ireland’s economic situation as well as Northern Ireland during his first formal Downing Street meeting with British prime minister David Cameron.
Additional reporting Bloomberg