Siptu president Jack O’Connor said the failure to reach a deal on the bank debt before the next €3.1bn promissory note payment is due in March would have “disastrous” consequences for the country.

As the financial crisis engulfing the HSE deepens, it is appalling to see the scale of staff overpayments that continue to draw on the near-empty coffers of a dysfunctional organisation whose bureaucratic bungling makes a mockery of the concept of giving taxpayers value for money.

The Troika barks orders — it does not see fit to explain them.

The terms of a second troika bailout must be approved by Labour’s grassroots activists before the Government signs up to it, party chairman Colm Keaveney said.

IRELAND has been voting on European issues for about 40 years with the fiscal treaty the ninth such referendum on the country’s position within the EU.

IF there is a yes vote on Thursday, there will be cheerleaders on one side and a lot of worried people on the other.

A re-negotiation of the promissory notes, or IOUs, on bank debt is under way and any deal could also see banks freed from some loss-making mortgages, the finance minister has said.

Enda Kenny - Taoiseach

Anyone who has been confounded by the cost of taking a court action will empathise with remarks made by Mr Justice Michael Peart at the weekend.

The Government will today announce the list of State-owned businesses it intends to sell, amid speculation it could offload as much as €3bn worth of assets.

There is much debate about the facts associated with Ireland’s receipt of liquidity funding from the Troika and the repayment commitments for both public borrowings and that which we have borrowed to repay private bank debts.

Bank unions are to write to the troika to tell them that the delay in shedding thousands of jobs in the sector is the fault of the Government and not staff, trade unions or the financial institutions.

THE white smoke has emerged from the ESB chimney.

MINISTERS will plead with the EU/ECB/IMF troika to cut the multi-billion euro interest payments looming on the Anglo bailout as the foreign financial chiefs arrive in Ireland for a 10-day inspection of the state’s books.

THE EU/ECB/IMF troika has asked the Irish Government to raise substantially more than €2 billion through the sale of state assets, Taoiseach Enda Kenny admitted last night.

STATE plans for a job creation “strategic investment bank” are to be replaced with a “fund” as the pre-election promise is “difficult to implement in current market conditions”.

THE Government can fulfil its pledge not to raise income tax rates in the coming budget, but it will have to fill the €250 million hole in some other way, EU sources said.

WORKERS will only be spared income tax hikes in the budget if the Government can cut a new deal with the EU/IMF, the Taoiseach last night insisted.

AT a moment when so much is uncertain, at a moment when so many tottering citadels begin to look as if they might tumble into history’s dust, anything resembling a certainty is to be cherished.

STATE agencies like the HSE and local authorities will be asked to commit to paying their bills within 15 working days, following a meeting between the Small Firms Association (SFA) and the Minister for Small Business John Perry.

The stress tests have revealed that the banking crisis is worse than envisaged under the EU/IMF bailout. And the EU isn’t helping us, writes Ray Kinsella

FURTHER EU financial aid will be needed by Ireland after 2013 to help it raise funds, according to NCB Stockbrokers.

FORMER president Mary Robinson has claimed Irish people have nobody to blame for the country’s economic mess but themselves.