With third-level education set to cost parents up to €35,320 over the course of a student’s studies, four in 10 parents fell into debt this year funding their child’s college expenses.

A High Court judge issued a “heartfelt plea” to an insurance company to re-consider the plight of a man refused payment under his serious illness policy because he underwent surgery on one, rather than two, arteries as required by the policy.

Irish pension funds may buy as much as €10bn of domestic sovereign annuity bonds within three years, according to Zurich Life Assurance Plc, the first insurer cleared by regulators to offer such products as the country returns to debt markets.