A regime to force bank bondholders and shareholders rather than taxpayers to take losses in failing banks has been discussed by EU finance ministers.

EU finance ministers have agreed to explore a limited form of taxing financial transactions but said they will also work on finding a way to tax derivatives.

EU finance ministers have agreed to a firewall that was less than the bazooka many said is needed to protect the euro.

The country may yet have to pay a high cost for the deferral of the €3.1bn promissory note payment as the ECB is deeply unhappy with the deal and the extra cost to the exchequer may have to be made up in government spending cuts.

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary said he has been approached by companies interested in buying the State’s 25% share in Aer Lingus.

“Use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities,” St Paul advised his friend Timothy, who may have been a hypochondriac.

People in Ireland generated the fourth highest amount of waste per person in the EU two years ago, although waste companies report the recession has forced us to cut the amount being produced over the past year.

Structural reforms including wage reductions, labour market reforms and changes to unemployment benefit will have much less effect on improving Ireland’s economic performance because many of the adjustments have already been made, according to the OECD.

Ireland’s bid to ease the debt burden got public support from the head of the eurogroup just days before the Government expects a decision on its bid to postpone the €3.1bn Anglo payment.

Ireland’s contribution to the EU budget could be cut by about 40% through a shareout of a tax being levied on financial transactions, the European Commission says.