Opposition parties tonight rounded on Taoiseach Brian Cowen over the series of "catastrophic" actions that brought the country to its knees.

Bank employees' union the IBOA today launched a legal action against Ulster Bank in an escalation of the union's row with the bank over staff payments and contracts.

The Finance Union, IBOA, have said the announcement by Ulster Bank that it is to seek a further 250 redundancies among the staff of the group is profoundly disappointing - given that a rationalisation programme involving 750 job losses has yet to be completed.

IN recent months frontline bank officials have experienced a new phenomenon at work — an unprecedented level of vitriol and abuse, including threats of violence from bank customers and members of the public who blame the regular staff working in the branches for the excesses of a handful of high-fliers at the top of these institutions.