Ireland needs yields to fall to around 5-6 percent if it is to exit its bailout programme, as planned, in 2013 and return to debt markets to fund itself.

That will be a tall order.

The government has said it has enough EU-IMF loans to last it until the end of 2013 but with an 11.9 billion euro bond due to mature in January 2014, the head of Ireland's debt management agency, the NTMA, said Dublin may need to raise up to 15 billion euros before the end of 2013.

John Corrigan told lawmakers last week that the bond repayment in early 2014 was "very challenging."

Further falls in Irish yields will depend on Ireland meeting investor expectations and some officials, most notably the outgoing chief economist of the European Central Bank Juergen Stark, have urged Ireland to beat those expectations by accelerating their austerity measures.

Corrigan told lawmakers that if next year's budget deficit came in below 8.6 percent of GDP it would make it easier for him to secure financing but the government, conscious of the need to protect a tepid economic recovery, has said it is sticking to its current goals.

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