The EU Commissioner for Employment is to investigate the planned closure of the TalkTalk call centre in Waterford, with the loss 575 jobs.

THE European Commission issued a new warning to mobile phone operators to open up competition and cut charges to customers for using their phones abroad.

THE ISEQ Index recovered somewhat yesterday as it emerged European Union and IMF officials would begin talks with Irish regulatory authorities today to discuss details of a possible rescue plan.

ANYONE who heard Amadeu Altafaj Tardio, spokesman for the EU Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, speaking on RTÉ radio yesterday morning got a glimpse of what our future might be like if we are not realistic about our public funding crisis.

FARMERS may have to cope with radically changed disease eradication rules in conjunction with a reformed Common Agricultural Policy after 2013.

THE huge increase in males out of work in Limerick is a very worrying trend in the jobs crisis.

TWO thousand Dell workers and thousands of others who will also lose their jobs as a result of the computer giant’s move from Limerick to Poland could benefit from a €20 million EU fund to help them retrain and develop new skills.

IRELAND can now draw money from the €375 million European Social Fund for training and education without having to put in matching funds this year and next, the European Commission announced.

THE European Union had indicated it would back an Irish request for a financial package to help soon-to-be redundant Dell workers, but stressed the need for the Government to draw up a comprehensive programme for getting those affected back to work.

AGRICULTURE Minister Brendan Smith has welcomed the decision taken in Brussels to introduce private storage aid for butter two months earlier than usual.

IRELAND is joining a group of five EU countries opposed to any use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in a move that could lead to clashes with Irish farming interests.

A senior EU official has been summoned before an Oireachtas Committee amid growing concerns about unregulated Brazilian meat being sold in Irish shops.

A Sinn Féin delegation has lobbied the EU Commissioner for Transport for a better road and rail infrastructure in the north-west.

THE EU Commissioner for the Environment is investigating why this country has failed to remove all waste from, and fill in, illegal lagoons, despite being ordered to do so 13 months ago by the European Court.

IRISH MEP Brian Crowley has warned that a football compensation case currently before the Belgian courts could have serious financial implications for the FAI.

THE European Commission is due shortly to publish the results of its investigation into Ryanair’s commercial arrangements at Charleroi airport outside Brussels.