Ireland's debt agency expects good demand for its bond switch on Wednesday, the finance minister said.

"They (the debt agency) would have assessed demand before they decided to do it," Michael Noonan told reporters, adding that he expected the agency to offer a coupon of around 4.5 percent on the new 2015 bond and a yield of around 5.6 percent.

"I think they are offering to buy back paper at 5.4 percent for 2014 and to provide new paper at 5.6 percent for 2015, but they are the yields. The coupon is around 4.5 (percent)," he said.

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The 2014 paper has risen in price on the secondary market this morning, dealers said, and is currently trading at around 98.5 cents in the euro, equating to a yield of under five percent.

Late on Tuesday, it was trading at 97.5, equating to a yield of around 5.4 percent.

(Reporting by Carmel Crimmins; editing by Anna Willard)