The Government has moved to trim its massive €9bn annual outlay on procurement by setting up a National Procurement Office charged with saving up to €600m a year.

A total of 69 Irish embassies cost the State more than €76m to run in 2011, but the Vatican embassy, controversially closed as a government money-saving measure, was among the cheapest.

The Government has said that there needs to be a greater urgency in implementing the Croke Park Agreement.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has criticised the Government's plan to cut more than 23,000 jobs from the public sector over the next four years.

The Junior Finance Minister has said that the Government may have to use its influence if some banks covered by the bank guarantee scheme choose not to pass on yesterday's ECB rate cut to customers.

A junior minister at the Department of Finance is defending the timing of the announcement that the Government wants to burn senior bondholders at Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide.

MORE than 160 people set to work with vulnerable patients in hospitals, nursing homes and other facilities were blocked from taking up posts after garda checks.