The head of the banking inquiry has written to all national media outlets warning journalists they face criminal prosecution if any leaked witness statements are published before they are officially made public.

The Department of Finance is to spark a scramble among the country’s top PR firms for the prestigious contract to design and implement a national communications strategy on the Government’s plan to address mortgage arrears.

Brian Cowen attended a private Anglo Irish function a month after the St Patrick’s Day 2008 Irish stock exchange crisis and a fortnight before becoming taoiseach, but insisted he was never lobbied for a bank guarantee.

Ministers have denied the Government has been "bought off" by Brussels with a €1.5bn debt deal so it will abandon a bid to get a recapitalisation on the €60bn bank bailout.

The Government continues to have discussions with the troika about solutions for the tracker mortgage problem, “but it would be too strong a description to say they are under negotiation,” Minister for Finance Michael Noonan told the Oireachtas Finance Committee.

Finding customers, not bank finance, is the biggest problem being faced by small and medium-sized business in Ireland, research from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) has found.

Banks in Cyprus have reopened to customers for the first time in nearly two weeks, with people now able to access their accounts, albeit with strict restrictions on transactions.

The proposed Oireachtas inquiry into the banking crisis could be undermined by the timing of the trial of former Anglo Irish Bank chairman Sean FitzPatrick.

Cabinet ministers will gather for a special budget meeting later today, with one week to go before the details are unveiled.

A new agreement with Switzerland aimed at ending a long-running dispute over German tax cheats who hide their money in Swiss banks, has been blocked by Germany’s upper house of Parliament.

Consultants Deloitte initially demanded over €166,000 for a 37-page report on the Government’s €3.6bn accounting error, Finance Minister Michael Noonan has confirmed.

A Government TD has criticised the Coalition for prematurely raising people’s hopes that Ireland would secure a reduction on its bank debt.

FINANCE

THE President of the European Court of Auditors has accepted an apology from Ireland’s member over emails lobbying against Kevin Cardiff.

The most senior official in the Department of Finance has told the Public Accounts Committee that he only became aware of a €3.6bn blunder in calculating the debt in our national accounts last Friday evening.

The International Monetary Fund has cut Ireland's growth prospects due to the worsening global economic outlook.

Germany is calling for a European wide ban on short-selling.

A report on the causes of the banking crisis is expected to be discussed by the Cabinet this morning.

Europe Correspondent Ann Cahill looks at the busy ‘to do’ lists of the new ministers which are imbued with the responsibility of IMF-EU conditions.

CHARLIE HAUGHEY may have been lecturing the nation about living beyond its means but he didn’t give a second thought to lunching beyond his department’s means.

FINANCE Minister Brian Lenihan has published the documents which outline the terms and conditions attached to the EU-IMF bailout.

THERE are certain cabinet ministers who are feeling a little sore this weekend. Not just because Ireland slipped into an EU-IMF bailout under their watch, but because the ministers themselves — some of them, at least — had no inkling of what was truly happening until it was too late. They feel they were kept in the dark — by Brian Cowen and Brian Lenihan.

FINANCE Minister Brian Lenihan has sought to reassure companies that they won’t face higher taxes on their profits despite the state needing to raise more revenue.

FINANCE Minister Brian Lenihan has conceded that a more precise calculation on the cost of the Anglo Irish Bank rescue package will have to be worked out for once and for all to restore confidence among international investors.

FINANCE Minister Brian Lenihan has again ruled out the prospect of an early budget to improve investor confidence in Ireland.

FINANCE ministers were struggling last night to set up a fund worth potentially hundreds of billions of euro to shore up countries in danger of going bankrupt.

FINANCE Minister Brian Lenihan has just committed €81bn of our money to bail out the banks.

FINANCE union IBOA has called on Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Mary Coughlan to hold an emergency summit meeting to address what it describes as the emerging jobs crisis in the financial services sector.

A FINANCE company has launched a legal battle against aircraft companyexecutives Philip de Vere Hunt and Pat Moloughney in a €9 million row.

FINANCE Minister Brian Lenihan has been criticised for failing to take his chance to amend the emergency budget and ease pressure on low income families.

An all-party body has taken the first step to force witnesses to attend its meetings to be grilled on controversial issues.

FINANCE Minister Brian Lenihan has asked the Dáil for permission to increase his proposed €7 billion investment in the country’s two main banks.

FINANCE Minister Brian Lenihan refused yesterday to rule out the possibility that Allied Irish Bank and Bank of Ireland may yet have to be nationalised, as market sentiment towards the banking system here continues to worsen.

FINANCE Minister Brian Lenihan has defended his decision not to deduct capital allowances for farm waste management, before applying the new one percent levy to farm incomes.

Lloyds TSB has begun sounding out potential buyers for an arm of Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS), it was reported today.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a two-year, $2.1bn (€1.67bn) support programme for Iceland that is designed to restore confidence and stabilise that country’s shattered economy.

The Fianna Fáil organisation in Cork city has been dealt a major blow with the resignation of a key activist and local election candidate, in the wake of the budget.

FINANCE Minister Brian Lenihan has been accused of “leaping back into bed with the construction industry” after it emerged his department’s rules on payment for leading projects were broken.

Tesco was today said to be in talks over raising up to £500m (€634m) through the sale of dozen stores.

Hundreds of Iraqi and US troops cordoned off sections of Baghdad’s Sadr City slum early today for a series of raids in an effort to find five Britons abducted from a nearby government building.

FINANCE Minister Brian Cowen has announced the appointment of Kevin Cardiff as head of the department of finance’s banking, finance and pensions division, following an open recruitment process.

THE State’s financial watchdog yesterday warned there is a “problem” with the way hundreds of millions of euro is poured into local authority projects without full scrutiny.

FINANCE Minister Brian Cowen yesterday defended his backing for a commercial enterprise near Dublin Airport headed by a businessman from a Fianna Fáil family.

THE red hot property market and spending on luxury goods powered the Irish economy forward last year at a rate Finance Department chiefs admitted left them “startled”.