* Euro zone ministers to discuss Irish debt crisis
* Dublin says help may be needed for banks, not state
* Partners say aid conditional on adjustment programme
* German lawmaker says Ireland should raise corporate tax
(Adds German on corporate tax, Irish spread widens, euro falls)
By Timothy Heritage
BRUSSELS, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Euro zone finance ministers will try to find a way out of Ireland's debt crisis on Tuesday, with Dublin resisting calls to seek a state bailout by contending that only its banks may need help.
European partners made clear ahead of the evening talks that loans from EU emergency funds could only be granted to governments that sign a formal fiscal adjustment programme enforced by the European Commission and the IMF.
Ireland is under pressure from the European Central Bank and some euro zone peers to take a quick decision on applying for aid amid signs that market contagion is spreading to fellow struggler Portugal and could infect bigger states.
The Irish government, trying to protect a slim parliamentary majority, says it is talking to European partners about how to provide stability for its banks but denies that a state rescue is needed to stop its problems spilling into other countries.
"I would hope after the Ecofin meeting this afternoon and tomorrow there would be more logic introduced into this," Ireland's European affairs minister, Dick Roche, told BBC Radio.
"There is no reason why we should trigger an IMF or an EU-type bailout."
Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean Claude-Juncker, who chairs the Brussels talks, said Ireland was not even close to asking for a bailout, which would involve the kind of tough austerity terms imposed on Greece.
But the Irish opposition said moves were already under way.
In an indication of the sort of conditions Brussels may be under pressure to set, a senior German lawmaker said on Tuesday that Ireland should raise its ultra-low 12.5 percent corporation tax rate, a magnet for foreign investment, to help cut its debt.
"The Irish rates are below the European Union average," said Michael Meister, finance expert in Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic party. "I therefore see here at least a possibility, given the high budget deficit, to improve revenues without causing a negative impact on growth."
Higher-tax countries have long seen the Irish rate as a form of unfair competition, especially since Dublin was until the mid-2000s one of the biggest recipients of EU regional aid.
One euro zone source said Finland was against putting pressure on Ireland to quickly apply for a bailout, saying EU financial aid must be a last resort.
FULLY FUNDED
Ireland's public borrowing needs are funded until mid-2011, but its bond yields have soared in the past week and its state-guaranteed banks are largely shut out of inter-bank lending and reliant on the ECB for funds.
This has helped push up the borrowing costs of other countries on the 16-country euro zone's periphery, such as Spain and Portugal.
Spanish Treasury Secretary Carlos Ocana pressed Ireland on Tuesday to come to a resolution over its debt crisis quickly to end market uncertainties.
"The important thing is that Ireland makes a decision as soon as possible," he told reporters in Madrid.
The Irish coalition government has been reluctant to apply for assistance, partly because it faces a by-election it can ill afford to lose on Nov. 25 and also because it says it wants to preserve its sovereignty.
Dublin has hinted it may ask for funding to support its banks, which were driven into debt by the global financial crisis and a property market crash, without requesting a politically embarrassing state bailout.
SPILLOVER
The euro fell below $1.36 to trade close to its lowest in nearly seven weeks due to worries about euro zone peripheral debt problems.
The risk premium investors charge for holding Irish 10-year bonds rather than benchmark German bunds widened to 575 basis points but remained below last week's peak.
The cost of insuring Irish, Portuguese and Greek debt against default edged up as peripheral euro zone bonds remained under stress ahead of the Brussels finance ministers' meeting, which promises to be heated.
Portuguese Finance Minister Fernando Teixeira dos Santos told the Financial Times there was a high risk that his country would have to seek international aid because markets were lumping Greece, Ireland and Portugal together.
But he later told Reuters there were no plans for Lisbon to request emergency foreign funding.
European Central Bank Vice-President Vitor Constancio said that if Ireland decided to request aid, which it had not yet done, it would not necessarily force other countries, such as his native Portugal, to follow suit.
At their monthly meeting, the euro zone finance ministers are likely to praise Ireland's planned 2011 budget cuts, which face a parliamentary vote of approval next month. They are joined for talks on Wednesday by the other EU finance ministers.
They are also expected to discuss the future euro zone crisis resolution mechanism, which Germany wants to start from 2013, replacing the 440-billion-euro European Financial Stability Facility set up after Greece sought help in May.
Ireland and Greece says Germany has aggravated problems by pushing the idea of asset value reductions or "haircuts" for private bondholders under the planned permanent rescue mechanism, raising the spectre of potential defaults.
EU sources say possible aid under discussion for Ireland ranges from 45 billion to 90 billion euros ($63-123 billion), depending on whether Dublin needs support for its banks. (Additional reporting by Terhi Kinnunen in Helsinki, Andreas Rinke in Berlin, Luke Baker, Julien Toyer in Brussels, William James in London; Editing by Paul Taylor and Mike Peacock)