EFSF's Regling-UK has made clear it will join Irish aid

FRANKFURT Nov 17 (Reuters) - Britain has made it very clear that it will join any aid effort for Ireland, Klaus Regling, the head of the euro zone's fiscal safety net the European Financial Stability Facility, said on Wednesday.

"The UK informally has made it very clear that if there were an operation for Ireland they would join," Regling said during a panel discussion at the Euro Finance Week banking conference.

"They would participate in one way or the other. That is useful because they are the largest creditor."

A joint IMF, ECB, European Commission mission is set to arrive in Ireland on Thursday to assess the health of its state finances and banks, a move seen as potentially paving the way for a bail-out deal which would involve the EFSF. [ID:nLDE6AG004]

(Reporting by Marc Jones; Editing by Toby Chopra) marc.jones@thomsonreuters.com; +49 (0)69 7565 1219; reuters messaging: marc.jones.reuters.com@reuters.net))