Doubts over whether the proposed Government reform of the legal system will ever be realised have intensified after the European Commission failed this week to address the issue when it made a number of other recommendations, involving cutting health costs, and tackling unemployment and mortgages.

Banks are to be asked to cough up some of the cost of running the banking inquiry which will examine decisions and actions of some of their top executives in the run up to the €440bn state guarantee.

The Government is set to re-invest €600m from the Bord Gáis Energy sale into projects which are capable of creating jobs and generating a commercial return.

The grandmother of a toddler with Down’s syndrome has been waiting a year for a response from the Taoiseach and three government ministers to correspondence about disability cuts referred to them on her behalf by the troika.

The EU's Economics Commissioner said it's too early to decide whether Ireland should be given a precautionary second bailout.

THE austerity policies first inflicted by Fianna Fáil, and now continued by Fine Gael, Labour, and the EU-IMF troika, have been a disaster for ordinary citizens and the economy.

Ireland is to hold an auction of short-term bonds this week.

Europe is set for a restless summer as the slumbering financial crisis reawakens. Luke Baker looks a problem that refuses to go away.

An exit strategy for Ireland from the bailout will be a focus of talks between the Government and troika lenders this week, while officials will also examine solutions to the unemployment crisis.

IRELAND’S bailout masters are back in town this week and will focus their attention on the stability of the banks, troubled mortgages and the unemployment crisis.

Michael Noonan has signalled that a 2010 ECB letter reportedly forcing a bailout upon Ireland will eventually be published.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has hit out at opposition claims that Spain’s bank bailout is far more generous than the one Ireland is saddled with.

Ireland has met all the economic conditions imposed on the country in return for its €85bn bail-out package – but the country still faces major challenges, the European Commission said today.

A no vote in next week’s referendum would mean “in all likelihood” that Ireland would not be able to return to the bond markets next year, according the National Treasury Management Agency.

THE full €3 billion of proceeds from the sale of state assets should go towards job creation, Fianna Fáil has said.

Greece’s coalition leaders have once again postponed a crucial meeting on new cutbacks, despite intense international pressure for Athens to bite the austerity bullet if it wants to avoid bankruptcy.

Under intense pressure from bailout creditors, Greek party leaders were seeking a long-delayed agreement on harsh cutbacks demanded to avoid looming bankruptcy, as a general strike disrupted public services nationwide today.

Greece’s coalition government caved in to demands to cut civil service jobs, announcing 15,000 positions would go this year, amid mounting international pressure to agree on austerity measures needed to secure major new debt agreements.

AT least the Mayans put the end of the world off until December — sadly, the Government is not so generous and has decided the life chances of some of the most vulnerable children in the Irish school system should be extinguished a few months earlier.

BANK of Ireland sold a London-headquartered lending division to US bank Wells Fargo for around €690 million yesterday putting it closer to meeting its target of selling €10 billion in assets under an EU-IMF bailout.

The Government has said it expects to meet its deficit target under the EU-IMF bailout this year, despite missing its target for tax revenue.

THE Government is no longer considering forcing losses on junior bondholders in Bank of Ireland after the lender met its recapitalisation target by raising €350 million in capital yesterday.

WEAKENING domestic demand and the threat of a European recession risk undermining Ireland’s hopes of meeting its medium-term fiscal goal under an EU-IMF bailout, a Reuters poll showed yesterday.

AIB still expects to cut its bad debt next year, despite rising arrears and a challenging outlook for the economy, as the eurozone debt crisis rapidly worsens and Government austerity measures deepen.

BANK of Ireland announced a disposal yesterday and BNP Paribas was said to be looking to sell a package of assets, as Europe’s banks step up plans to raise funds to help meet tougher capital rules.

RYANAIR said it will pursue Aer Lingus directors for a breach of company law if the former state carrier refuses again to hold an EGM

The Government is to challenge MEPs who rejected its nomination of a senior finance chief to a top job in Europe, Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has claimed.

THE Government is considering wiping out the value of some junior bonds in Bank of Ireland (BoI) to ensure the lender generates €350 million in additional capital by the end of this year.

BANK of Ireland said yesterday its deposits rose 3% in the four months to the end of October, improving its funding position, although the country’s largest lender said trading was still tough.

PROTESTORS and the opposition ratcheted up demands for a referendum on the EU-IMF deal for Ireland, claiming the Government had done a U-turn on its pledge to withhold the payment of €715 million to unsecured bondholders.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has this evening confirmed Tuesday, December 6 as the date for Budget 2012.

THE Government has been urged to make an extra €4 billion in adjustments above those already planned over the next four years.

AER LINGUS has written to shareholder and long-time rival Ryanair to reject the latter’s complaints that it is “continually ignored” by the Aer Lingus board, the latest in a long-running war of words between the two airlines.

The interest rate payable by Ireland on the €17.7bn EFSF segment of the EU-IMF loan has been reduced further by .5%, Finance Minister Michael Noonan has said.

Greece has denied reports of a rift with EU-IMF auditors who cut short a visit after noting Athens had failed to meet targets to unlock more rescue funding.

THE country’s services sector saw new export orders contract for the first time this year in July, and at the fastest pace in two years, stoking doubts about the country’s economic growth prospects, a survey released yesterday has showed.

PENSIONERS, struggling mortgage-holders and thousands of cash-strapped families will be hit with a €100 household charge early next year.

IRELAND would like to see the eurozone issue common bonds as part of the solution to the bloc’s debt crisis, the Tánaiste said yesterday.

Ireland's chances of securing a lower interest rate on our bailout loans have been given a welcome boost, thanks to comments made by the EU economics commissioner Ollie Rehn.

DISSIDENT shareholders in Irish Life & Permanent have succeeded in getting four extra resolutions tabled at the bancassurer’s EGM next week, including a proposal to appointment new advisers to review options for raising capital.

The Greek parliament has voted narrowly in favour of imposing more belt-tightening on its people in a bid to pay the nation’s debts and stave off looming bankruptcy.

GREECE pledged to push tough new budget cuts through parliament despite mounting labour and social unrest as the new finance minister prepared to meet Athens’ international creditors.

UP until recently, the Government was having a reasonably comfortable time of it. No major gaffes. No indication of public outrage at the U-turns they had already performed. The Queen of England and the US President coming to visit and lending a bit of cheer. Everything had been going swimmingly. But in the last week to 10 days, the first signs of strain have begun to appear.

The Taoiseach has told struggling homeowners that they will "probably" know by the end of the month if they are to face a new household charge from next year.