Ireland has one of the highest levels of public debt in the developed world and is surpassed on a per capita basis globally only by Japan and the US. It amounts to €42,000 for every person resident in the State.

Education Minister Richard Bruton has said the State cannot intercede and take on the private debts of companies that go into liquidation.

British household debt is expected to continue its "alarming" increase over the next four years, the country’s shadow chancellor John McDonnell has said.

A new report has shown how global debt has grown by US$75 trillion to $217 trillion in the decade since the 2007-08 financial crisis - reaching $28,900 of debt for every man, woman and child in the world.

Public debt is still a major challenge and will remain so into the future, Government has warned.

The number of personal insolvency applications in Ireland has more than doubled when compared to same period in 2016, while the number of people availing of debt solutions continues to grow.

Greek banks are poised to reopen after a forced three-week closure – but restrictions on cash withdrawals remain.

German policy-makers have given overwhelming approval to opening detailed negotiations with Greece on a new bailout package.

Michael Noonan says he has never taken a "hard line" against Greece, as Eurozone finance ministers meet to discuss the country's future in the single currency.

THE Government yesterday produced legislation to allow for unpaid utility bills to be taken from welfare payments or wages. Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald produced the Civil Debt bill, allowing for attachment orders for debts over €500 but less than €4,000.

The Government has denied claims it had squandered its own mandate for change by missing an opportunity to secure a significant debt reduction deal for Ireland.

Farmers dodging debts owed to the State should face new penalties, including debits from their earnings, seizures of their assets and higher interest rates on monies owed, according to a report.

Bankers expect a thorough ECB healthcheck of the eurozone’s largest banks to reignite merger activity by rebuilding confidence among lenders.

As a lengthy court battle began to stave off prepossession, even selling a kidney to raise cash was considered as an option, writes our Riches to Rags columnist

THEY are architects, engineers, shop owners, taxi drivers, public sector workers, sales assistants, office workers, self-employed tradesmen and small business owners. They cover the gamut of society and they’re all struggling with arrears on mortgages, rent, ESB bills, gas bills, personal and credit union loans.

The President of the College of Psychiatrists in Ireland says he and his colleagues will not be fooled by women claiming to be suicidal to get an abortion.

A second day of hearings on the proposed abortion legislation will take place today.

Health Minister James Reilly has defended his decision not to take questions from TDs and senators during Oireachtas Health Committee hearings on draft laws allowing abortion in limited circumstances.

There may never be an abortion carried out in Ireland on the grounds that a woman is suicidal because she is likely to travel to England in such circumstances, according to the Master of the National Maternity Hospital , Rhona Mahony.

There were times yesterday when the Seanad chamber took on the character of a spaceship, en route to a world far removed from the earthy lives of most people.

Groups from both sides of the abortion debate have hit out at the Coalition’s attempts to bring clarity to the issue.

The Oireachtas Committee on Health will not make any specific recommendations to Minister James Reilly on abortion legislation.

A referendum to reverse the Supreme Court ruling allowing suicidal women to have abortions would give Irish people “the chance to re-establish what they wished for,” according to Catholic bishops.

More than a third of the electorate supports the Government’s decision to legislate for abortion — in certain circumstances.

Rape crisis groups have hit out at comments made in the abortion debate which they say simplify and generalise associations between pregnancy through rape and abortion.

Anti-abortion group Youth Defence has rejected criticism of the use of controversial images in its campaign ads and compared them to the publications of corpses in Nazi death camps.

Absolute positions on abortion are no longer tenable, as three days of hearings showed, says Michael Clifford

The Catholic Church has suggested a referendum be held to overturn the Supreme Court's X case judgment on abortion.

A representative of the Catholic Church has told today's Oireachtas Health Committee hearing on abortion that it is not necessary to legislate for the X case.

Church leaders will give evidence today before a parliamentary hearing on plans to legislate for abortion in Ireland.

A leading anti-abortion campaigner has accused Health Minister James Reilly of restricting the options open to an expert group on introducing legislation governing abortion.

Fears that allowing suicide as grounds for an abortion would “open the floodgates” are completely unfounded, TDs and senators were told yesterday.

The HSE report into the death of Savita Halappanavar is unlikely to be published until the middle of February — but is in its final editing stage.

Criticism of the decision to allow the wife of a member of the Oireachtas committee hearing submissions on abortion to make her own submission has been rejected by her husband.

A constitutional amendment is not needed to allow for the abortion of a foetus that has no chance of survival outside the womb, legal experts have argued.

A legal expert has told the Oireachtas Committee looking at abortion legislation that fears of the floodgates being opened to widespread terminations are "completely unfounded".

The Oireachtas Health Committee will today hear evidence from a range of legal experts on proposals to introduce legislation for abortion.

Doctors must be given the legal “flexibility” to decide when they should terminate the pregnancy of a woman at risk of suicide, the country’s most senior obstetrician has said.

The Pope’s intervention in the abortion debate has again exposed fault lines between Labour and Fine Gael.

Two of the country’s top psychiatrists have clashed over the potential impact of legislation allowing abortion on the grounds of suicidal risk.

As the committee hearing on abortion begins, it seems like some of the politicians present want to leave well enough alone, writes Michael Clifford

One of the country’s biggest maternity hospitals, the Rotunda in Dublin, had six cases last year where pregnancies were terminated to save mothers’ lives.

The Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has called on the Government to allow it “active input” in framing legislation to allow for abortion in Ireland.

No women have complained to authorities after having a termination performed on medical grounds in an Irish hospital, the Irish Medical Council said.