From the "You can't make this stuff up" department

From today's Open Europe news summary:

Irish Finance Minister Michael Noonan said yesterday that he would not dismiss the idea of a European conference to discuss a possible debt write-down for crisis-hit Eurozone countries such as Greece, Ireland and Spain.

EUobserver

So, the Irish Finance Minister just might be persuaded to allow investors to write down his own country's debt! Did he say this with a straight face?