Irish companies need to prepare for a European lost decade on the back of sluggish growth and rising unemployment, according to Marie Diron, senior economic adviser to the Ernst & Young Eurozone Forecast.

TRACKER mortgage customers were again given a reprieve from rising interest rates yesterday with the European Central Bank (ECB) holding rates at the record low 1%.

TIMELY cost reductions and strong fundamentals are driving a faster than expected economic recovery, but this will not translate into jobs until 2014 or later.