Christine Lagarde,, the director of the International Monetary Fund is scheduled to visit the Irish capital, Dublin today.

She will hold meetings with Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore at government buildings and will also pay a visit to the Central Bank and attend a lunch event to mark the mark International Women's Day. Aehad of her visit to the country, she warned that the global economy is facing a relapse. She also said that she wanted to access the position of Ireland as the bailout package is to be concluded.

"I want to understand where the country is - which from the reports I read is a good position - with a programme that is more than on track, with growth that has turned positive for the first time and exceptionally so in comparison to other European and euro area countries. I want to see how we, with the authorities, can best plan for finishing successfully the programme and to make sure that there will not be a relapse," she said.

The visit by the head of the global financial institution comes a day after European Central Bank governor, Mario Draghi urged the Irish government to speed up banking reports and expressed concerns over the fact that about 23,500 mortgages were not paid in the country for a period of two years.

John Moran, secretary general of the Department of Finance said that the Irish Republic has a repossession rate of about 0.25 per cent of mortgages, which is much lower than 3 per cent in the UK and 5 per cent in the US.