FROM January the Fine Gael/Labour coalition will attempt to impose a new household tax on us and will begin installing water meters in homes across the state.

OVER the years I have grown to despise the month or two leading up to the annual charade that is the budget.

GREECE promised more cuts to its bloated public sector yesterday and held a second conference call in two days with its international lenders, whom it must convince to extend more loans to prevent its coffers running dry next month.

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.

Hospital overcrowding reached a record high for August with more than 6,600 patients left waiting on trolleys in emergency departments, it emerged today.

The head of the IMF mission to Ireland Ajai Chopra said today that the country should be judged on its own merits.

THE Greek parliament voted for the first bill to impose terrible austerity measures demanded by the EU/IMF yesterday. Voting on a second bill, to complete the process, is scheduled for today.

WE live in difficult times. Credit unions, like all businesses, are feeling the cold winds of recession biting at their balance sheets.

A CONTROVERSIAL levy on private pensions worth more than €400 million a year is to be slapped on savers to help fund the Government’s much heralded jobs initiative being unveiled tomorrow.

A SHOCK halving of the country’s economic growth forecast by the IMF to 0.5% has triggered fears of renewed tax hikes and fresh public sector pay cuts while the Cabinet met to try to get a grip on the worsening situation.

Shrinking the banking sector into two so-called pillar banks will leave customers crucified by a drive for profits, it has been claimed.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan has launched a shuddering attack on the previous government, claiming its banking policy was as dark an era as the Civil War.

PERCHED on a chair overlooking a wood panel-lined room in Dublin’s High Court, a bespectacled Judge Elizabeth Dunne has become all-too-used to hearing from the victims of Ireland’s economic meltdown.

‘He believes there is a realisation that Eire saved the euro’

The Fine Gael and Labour leaders met this evening to begin the process of forming of a new Government, despite there being 12 seats left to fill in the 31st Dáil.

The Cabinet has approved the setting up of a "compliance unit" in the Department of Finance for the IMF/EU bailout.

Ireland’s banks should be sold off to foreign owners to quicker clean up the debt crisis, the country’s top banker declared today.

THE EU yesterday sanctioned billions in state aid for Irish banks, including Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide.

THE last vestige of credibility evaporated from the Progressive Democrats from the moment Michael McDowell hoist the petard that the PDs were exiting government — only to subsequently change their minds.

IN going into government Green Party Leader John Gormley suggested that he and his colleagues could aptly be compared to voluntarily putting themselves in straitjackets. “Because when you are entering government,” he said, “you are entering an asylum.”

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams has refused to respond to comments made by retiring Justice Minister Dermot Ahern that he (Adams) is a "parachutist" into the Louth constituency.

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams has today described reports that the interest rate to be charged on the EU/IMF bailout is likely to be as high as 6.7% as further evidence of the Government's incompetence.

A bailout by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Europe must be flexible enough to allow a new government to revise the four-year budget plan, Fine Gael’s Enda Kenny said today.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen confirmed today the State is negotiating an €85bn bailout loan from the International Monetary Fund and Europe (IMF/EU).

BANK workers’ union IBOA has said it is fearful for the future of thousands of jobs under plans to restructure the finance sector.

The Government was thrown into crisis today after the Green Party called for a General Election.

The Green Party has called time on its coalition with Fianna Fáil.

A union representing staff working in the country's banks is seeking a meeting with the Government and representatives from the IMF/EU team to discuss the restructuring plan for the sector.

The Government is engaged in constructive talks with the International Monetary Fund and Europe to secure the best outcome for the country, Taoiseach Brian Cowen said today.

IBEC and the IFSC have both weighed in on the debate over the prospect of Ireland having to raise its corporate tax rate in return for a bailout agreement, saying such a move would be “counter-productive” and “against basic EU policy”.

Central Bank Governor Patrick Honohan today said he expects the country to get a loan worth tens of billions through an International Monetary Fund-European Union rescue package.

A TWEET by Green Party senator Dan Boyle complaining that it’s “difficult” to be in government at this time, lead to international headlines that the Irish Government was cracking.

A senior Green party member is casting doubt on the future of the coalition Government.