The new Taoiseach Enda Kenny is in London to meet David Cameron as Ireland's economy faces enormous challenges paying bank bail-out debts as unemployment rises.

Asked whether he would be asking for a lower interest rate on the UK's bi-lateral loans to Ireland, he said that "would be nice", but that the real issue was to rethink the bail-out deal and focus on the country's problems over the banking sector and unemployment.

"We're not looking for more money from Europe. We're looking at less money and more flexibility," he said.

Ireland's problems were different to those in Iceland and Greece, he told Evan Davis, and he had "no intention of causing mayhem" by refusing to pay debts incurred by the failure of banks.

"I see a day... where we can say goodbye to the IMF, go back to the bond markets, borrow at normal interest rates and be in charge again of our own economic sovereignty and our own economic destiny," he said.

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