Social Protection Minister Joan Burton has warned the troika that the benefits of the Anglo promissory note deal must go into battling unemployment.

The Governor of the Central Bank Patrick Honohan has said Ireland could benefit from the ECB's decision to buy the bonds of troubled Eurozone countries.

A successful Italian bond auction yesterday pointed to confidence among investors the ECB will keep its word and take strong enough measures to get a grip on the eurozone’s debt crisis.

The ECB is considering setting interest rate thresholds for any purchases of struggling eurozone member bonds, so that it would buy such bonds if their interest rates exceeded a certain premium over German bonds, it has been reported.

HAVING shed close to €6 billion in the previous two days, the Irish stock market lost further ground yesterday as investors worried that rising interest rates would damage corporate earnings.

AIB warned yesterday house prices could fall by 2% from their present levels by the year end.

THE European Central Bank is expected to leave official interest rates unchanged at its monthly policy meeting on Thursday, but signal that the next increase will be in March.