European Union and International Monetary Fund aid plan for Ireland is likely to come next week, together with, or very shortly after the release of Dublin's 4-year austerity scheme, EU sources said on Friday.
"They would be close in time," one EU source with insight into the process said.
Irish community minister Pat Carey said on Friday the government's four-year fiscal plan for making 15 billion euros in savings from 2011 to 2014 will be published early next week.
Dublin is discussing an aid package potentially worth tens of billions of euros from European partners and the IMF, mainly to support its ailing banking sector.
Another senior euro zone source said it was a good assumption the EU/IMF programme for Ireland would come at the same time or very soon after Dublin publishes its 4-year plan.
Banks in Ireland have been largely shut out of market lending due to concerns about their solvency. They are almost entirely reliant on funding from the ECB, which reached 130 billion euros by end-October, plus an extra 35 billion euros from the Irish central bank.
EU sources have told Reuters Ireland may need assistance of between 45 billion and 90 billion euros, depending on whether it needs help only for its banks or for public debt as well.