Banking union deal in place as EU agrees €55bn back-up fund
EUROPEAN politicians finally struck a deal on the final piece of the ambitious banking union plan early after marathon talks.
The compromise, which is a provisional agreement, ended weeks of tough talks between governments and the European Parliament over common rules on shutting failing banks and deciding who will foot the bill.
Once the deal is formally signed off by the parliament and national governments, the new law will create …
Merrill Lynch got Irish bank bailout cost wrong – by €48bn
Merrill Lynch told the Government back in 2008 that it would cost a maximum of €16.4bn to rescue banks. In the end it cost four times that amount.
The Government paid Merrill Lynch a hefty €7.3m in return for banking advice in 2008 and 2009.
The expensive advice was contained in a 45-page presentation to the Department of Finance given in November 2008. Merrill estimated the recapitalisation costs at between …
Sustaining growth is a problem for Europe
Europe’s leaders are in Brussels today. Their annual March summit is supposed to be about bread-and-butter economic issues first and foremost. At this year’s gathering they should be focusing on ways they can spur growth in their economies and across the wider EU economy. But, as is often the case, more immediate matters intrude to distract from the main agenda issue – in this case it is what sort of …
Trade surplus down by 9pc but exports up over the year
IRELAND’s trade surplus fell by 9pc in January but the value of exports was up over the year.
The country’s export sector has been dented by the effect of the so-called pharmaceutical patent cliff – a fall-off in pharmaceutical sales as some blockbuster drugs here lose intellectual property, such as Irish-made cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor.
Preliminary figures for January from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show the value of exports was …
Revenue collects €1.5m in property tax each day
THE Revenue Commissioner has collected almost €1.5m a day in household charges after it threatened to haul homeowners before the courts for not paying up before the end of the month.
The surge in payments follows Revenue’s warning that it would impose tough penalties and interest and pursue enforcement action on property owners refusing to pay by the March 31 deadline.
Property owners continuing to defy the demand from the …