EUROPEAN Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Thursday that the European Union (EU) stood ready to support Ireland “in case of need,” after Irish bond yields soared to record levels on public debt fears.

“What is important to know is that we have all the necessary instruments in place now to support Ireland if necessary,” he told reporters, when asked whether the EU would bail out Ireland as it did Greece earlier this year五金回收.

Irish bond yields saw their biggest one-day leap Wednesday since the launch of the euro in the face of mounting investor unease at the country’s shaky public finances, placing the European bond market under serious strain.

Barroso, who heads the EU’s executive arm, said that “in case of need, the EU is ready to support Ireland.”

“We are monitoring the situation closely,” he said. “But we support the efforts of the Irish authorities” to combat a deficit that has ballooned thanks to bailouts of cash-strapped banksugg boots.

Irish 10-year bond yields Wednesday jumped at one point to 8.180 percent, the highest since 1999, despite assurances by Ireland’s prime minister that the country would not be forced to access a European bailout fund.

Eurozone bonds came under serious strain Wednesday as investors took flight, with Portugal and Ireland ? besides Greece ? struggling to rein in public debtlaptop bag.

Ireland’s crisis has raised the spectre of a repeat of Greece’s near-bankruptcy護衛員.

In May, Athens’ plight forced European governments to endorse a 110-billion-euro (US$150 billion) bailout package and raised questions over the future of the euro織髮.

Ireland’s government insists it can avert disaster. It is due this month to unveil a four-year program of austerity budgets that will involve a 15-billion-euro correction to rein in a gaping public finances deficit.