FINANCE Minister Michael Noonan has said there is scope to make Greece's debt burden easier as eurozone finance ministers gathered in the wake of the electoral rise of the hard-left Syriza party.

But while ministers stressed they were willing to negotiate with the new Greek government, strong signals were being sent that there would be little leeway in terms of debt forgiveness.

Greek anti-bailout leftist party Syriza swept to victory in a snap election, with leader Alexis Tsipras promising that five years of austerity, "humiliation and suffering" imposed by international creditors were over.

The victory, which pushed the eurozone into another bout of political uncertainty, sent the euro briefly to an 11-year low.

Ireland has contributed €350m to Greece's €240bn bailout, which Syriza wants to renegotiate as part of its election promise to put an end to austerity.

Last night Taoiseach Enda Kenny congratulated the new prime minister of Greece and said he looked forward to working him. "We will no doubt be working together along with all European leaders in securing stability, jobs and prosperity for all the citizens of the European Union," Mr Kenny said.

But ahead of the meeting of finance ministers in Brussels, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch Finance Minister and chair of the 19-member Eurogroup, noted that Syriza wanted to remain part of the eurozone, but added that meant Greece must stick to the rules of the bloc. And he said there would be little backing for debt write-off.

"Working within the eurozone means they will comply with all the rules and agreements that we have within the eurozone, and on that basis, we will support them where we can,'' Mr Dijsselbloem said,

"We have already done a lot (on) the debt burden, by reducing interest rates, allowing longer periods for them to repay loans, so there doesn't seem to be a great urgency there.

"Writing off debt in nominal value, I don't think there's a lot of support for that in the eurozone.''

Mr Noonan struck a conciliatory tone, saying the issue for Greece was not debt cancellation, but the affordability of the debt, suggesting giving the country even longer to pay back what it owes, and making it less of a burden. He said there was scope for debt restructuring.

"That means the interest rates and maturities,'' Mr Noonan said.

"I would suggest the way forward is to make the debt affordable by restructuring and we'll see then the way the new Greek government handles the negotiation.''

Ireland contributed €350m to the Greek bailout, Mr Noonan said. But he said he didn't believe the idea of a debt conference was necessary yet.

"Cyrpus and Greece and Portugal and Ireland and Spain have all been resolved by negotiations at Eurogroup and Ecofin, and there's no suggestion that that model won't work again,'' he said.

In relation to Ireland's debt burden, Mr Noonan said Ireland and Greece were very different.

"My programme is to continue to make the Irish debt even more sustainable. But there are absolutely no market concerns now about Irish debt because of what we've done, that's why our interest rate is at 1pc on 10-year (debt).''

The German government stuck to its view that there would be no debt haircut for Greece, but opened the door to a possible extension of Greece's current bailout programme, which is due to come to a close at the end of February.

Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb also said his country was ready to discuss an extension if the new government can commit to agreed contracts and promised structural reforms, but like Mr Dijsselbloem, he said there would be no debt forgiveness.

Mr Dijsselbloem later told a press conference that the problems in Greece still remain despite the election, and have not disappeared "overnight".

The current Greek finance minister Gikas Hardouvelis attended the meeting yesterday. Greece is also expected to be discussed further when all 28 European finance ministers meet in Brussels today.

Meanwhile, in London last night, British Chancellor George Osborne urged Greece's new leaders to act "responsibly."

He said the party's promises to voters appeared "very difficult to deliver" and "incompatible with what the eurozone currently demands of its members". And British Prime Minister David Cameron said that the Greek result was a "warning sign" of possible economic turbulence to come.

In downtown Athens the reaction to the new political landscape was guarded. One Greek voter who flew home to take part in yesterday's election said he is concerned about what may happen in Greece.

Giorgos Samaras (24), originally from Thessaloniki and now living in London, booked tickets after the election was called in late December.

He said that people in his native country believe in Alexis Tsipras, but he added that he was "concerned about all the latest developments in Greece".

Irish Independent