* Auctions start on March 26
* Further auctions mostly on alternate Thursdays
* Looking at about 500 mln euros per line
(Adds comments on targeted amounts)
By Andras Gergely
DUBLIN, March 12 (Reuters) - Ireland will start its new treasury bill programme on March 26, with auctions mostly on alternate Thursdays and amounts around 500 million euros per line, the government's debt-raising arm said on Thursday.
Ireland has had to step up borrowing this year to fund a widening budget deficit, which the government will also address in a "mini-budget" on April 7, the second emergency budget since October.
The budget gap soared to 2 billion euros in January-February, making further tightening measures necessary to stop the deficit from rising above the 9.5 percent of gross domestic product already projected for 2009 by the cabinet. [ID:nLB283319]
The National Treasury Management Agency NTMA said last month it hoped to start bond auctions in March and aimed to raise around 10 billion euros ($12.78 billion) from such sales. [ID:nLR901894]
On Thursday it issued a calendar of treasury bill auctions, which it will hold generally on the second and fourth Thursday of each month.
"The NTMA plans to issue up to three lines per auction with maturities generally of 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months or 1 year," it said on Thursday.
New lines will be reopened in subsequent auctions, the NTMA said on its website.
"We're thinking of roughly 500 million euros for each line of T-bills for each auction," the NTMA's director of funding and debt management, Oliver Whelan, told Reuters, adding that the exact amount was still to be determined.
He did not comment on the NTMA's plans for auctions of debt with maturities above one year.
After raising 10 billion euros via two syndicated issues in January and February the NTMA told Reuters in February it aimed to raise a further 15 billion euros by the end of the year, mostly via auctions.
The NTMA issued the following T-bill auction calendar for the first half of the year:
* Quarter 1 2009
- Thursday 26 March, details announced on Tuesday 24 March
* Quarter 2 2009
- Wednesday 8 April, details announced on Monday 6 April
- Thursday 23 April, details announced on Tuesday 21 April
- Thursday 14 May, details announced on Tuesday 12 May
- Thursday 28 May, details announced on Tuesday 26 May
- Thursday 11 June, details announced by on Tuesday 9 June
- Thursday 25 June, details announced on Tuesday 23 May