FOREX-Euro heads for worst week in 2 yrs, ECB weighed

* Dollar rally gathers steam, dlr index at 1-month high

* Euro heading for biggest weekly loss vs dlr in 2 years

* ECB rate hike outlook tempered by Stark, Lagarde

* Peripheral jitters on Irish EU reform referendum

(Changes byline, adds quotes, updates prices)

By Toni Vorobyova

LONDON, June 12 (Reuters) - The euro was on track for its worst week versus the dollar in two years on Thursday, hurt by tempered expectations of euro zone rate hikes and political jitters surrounding Ireland's referendum on EU reforms.

European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet last week opened the door to a July rate hike, but policymakers since then have reiterated his message that this would not be the start of a big monetary tightening campaign.

French economy minister Christine Lagarde on Thursday went one step further, saying that the ECB may even reconsider the July move after this weekend's G8 meeting [ID:nPAB004122].

Adding pressure on the euro was news of a potential $46.3 billion outflow from euros to dollars as Belgium's InBev -- the world's largest beer producer by volume -- launched a bid for Anheuser-Busch, the U.S. maker of Budweiser and Michelob [ID:nL12592065].

Political jitters also weighed as Ireland went to the polls on a close-run referendum on European Union reform, flashing up memories of a euro sell-off in 2005 after the French and the Dutch voted "no" on the EU constitution [ID:nL11632657].

"The market is getting a few jitters over the Irish referendum...Coupled with the fact that a lot of stops accumulated around $1.5450 that started to push the euro lower," said Geoffrey Yu, currency strategist at UBS in Zurich.

"Also we had the comments from (ECB Executive Board member Juergen) Stark yesterday,...he suggested that the market may have gotten overboard in pricing in multiple ECB hikes on the back of what Trichet said. So if the yields adjust on that as well, then the euro will suffer."

By 1021 GMT, the euro was down 0.8 percent on the day at $1.5430, on track for its biggest weekly loss in percentage terms since early June 2006.