Spending across the 2019 summer season saw a decline in credit card spending by Irish consumers.

Payroll overpayments in excess of €1m, €4.7m spent on goods and services without proper procurement, and weaknesses in oversight and monitoring of grants to outside agencies are among the concerns flagged in the 2017 annual financial statements of Tusla, the child and family agency.

A cap of €60,000 on direct payments per farm proposed by EU leaders will not happen, says Irish CAP expert Alan Matthews.

Four additional one-to-one clinics to help farmers make Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) applications online are being arranged, including one in Munster.

The HSE contributed more than €1m to a charity where the parents of the chief executive received payments in excess of €84.000 unbeknownst to its other trustees.

A charity where payments in excess of €84,000 were made to the chief executive’s parents contrary to explicit instructions of Revenue has been given 21 days to come up with a plan to get its affairs in order.

Advocates for debt-saddled homeowners said they are shocked by official figures showing a rise in new early-stage mortgage arrears.

€600 could be added to the average health insurance premium.

The Government is facing an additional bill of €250m should nurses and other medical staff be granted controversial additional payments awarded to gardaí by the Labour Court, writes Daniel McConnell.

The union which represents the country’s community welfare officers has criticised a 60% drop in the amount paid out by the State in exceptional needs payments to those in financial difficulty.

There is been a threefold increase in the number of Irish consumers using mobile devices to pay for something.

This week’s programme for government brought bad news for hundreds of farmers who get an annual subsidy of more than €100,000 from the EU.

The Vatican said on Thursday that its prosecutor is investigating two former officials of a Vatican-owned children's hospital over renovations at the penthouse apartment of the city-state's former secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

Late payments are continuing to threaten the future of many SMEs, while the change in examinership laws is not having the desired effect on smaller businesses either, two separate studies have found.

The IFA has seen 528 members cancel their membership since November, when the organisation’s salaries and other payments to senior executives were the subject of extensive public scrutiny.

Businesses who were hit by last week's flooding have started to receive payments to fix some of the damage.

Agricultural Environment and Options Scheme (AEOS) payments to farmers will be made before Christmas.

Over €600,000 in severance, redundancy, or other payments was given to at least 15 people who lost their jobs as advisers or other roles with former ministers, after last year’s reshuffle.

Michel Platini has claimed he was not paid money owed by FIFA for more than nine years because of the world governing body’s financial situation.

The HSE has confirmed its investigating a pharmacy chain in relation to claims for payments.

Parents have been told by Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan to notify her department if schools insist they pay contributions that are supposed to be voluntary.

The Irish Farmers Association has criticised the Department of Agriculture’s publication of details outlining EU grants paid to farm-ers, describing the move as a breach of confidentiality.

UK Journalists should not be taken to court over paying officials for information if it is in the public interest, former director of public prosecutions Lord Macdonald has said.

The issue of top-ups to high earners in the health sector will come under scrutiny again today when HSE officials appear before the Oireachtas Health Committee.

Iarnród Éireann has said it will press ahead with implementing €4.7m in cuts to its pay bill unless talks with unions next week yield an agreement.