Ireland to offer 500 mln eur in 3rd T-bill sale of year

DUBLIN Oct 16 (Reuters) - Ireland will offer 500 million euros ($647 million) of three-month treasury bills on Thursday, the country's debt agency said, in its third such auction of the year as it inches towards a full return to debt markets.

Dublin sold that amount of three-month bills in September at an average yield of 0.7 percent, less than half the rate its sold them for in July when it returned to capital market after a near two-year absence.

Dublin has begun paving the way towards a full return to both long-and short-term markets to exit its EU/IMF bailout, a move helped greatly by euro zone leaders agreeing at a summit in June to look at easing Ireland's bank debt.