Ireland has welcomed a change made by EU finance ministers to their future rescue fund, which they hope will help already bailed out countries to regain access to debt markets. Finance Minister Michael Noonan said the move would make it easier for Ireland to re-enter the bond markets. Jean-Claude Juncker, who chairs the group of euro zone finance ministers, said the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), which will come into force in mid-2013, will not have preferred creditor status when it helps countries that have already been bailed out. Having preferred status means the fund would be re-paid before any private lenders. That had been criticised by many economists, who said it would deter banks and other investment funds from lending any money to already struggling countries. Finance Minister Michael Noonan said the move was very good news for Ireland because investors told him it would be virtually impossible for programme countries to get back into the market, as long as the provision remained. He said the move meant that all creditors would now have the same ranking - whether or not they were in the ESM. Under the original plan, the ESM would have first call on any money and preference over any other creditors. The Minister said this would have meant that after Ireland fulfilled its EU/IMF programme, investors would still be reluctant to lend money because of the risk they could loose their investment if we ended up in a ESM programme in the future. Following the EU move, Mr Noonan said investors would be now ready to lend us money when the country was ready to go back to the market, and they would not be inhibited by outside conditions.