A day of reckoning for people in mortgage arrears of more than two years is coming for both the banks and the homeowners, the head of the Irish Mortgage Holders Associations, David Hall, has warned.

The Irish Mortgage Holders Organisation and KBC Bank Ireland have agreed to work together in a similar project to that which led to AIB writing off a portion of mortgage holders’ debts.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has admitted that the Jun 2014 deadline for a deal on the recapitalisation of the banks will be missed, but insisted a legacy bank agreement is still be on the table.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny moved to mend bridges with the European Commission as work is due to begin in the next few weeks on details of how the EU can directly recapitalise banks.

IN ancient times, people consulted soothsayers, tea leaves and the intestines of freshly slaughtered animals to see the future. These days, people believe economists can do that for us.

The Central Bank has appointed a French official to take over as financial regulator, the second foreigner in succession to fill the role.

The new code of conduct on mortgage arrears contains strict new guidelines on how banks communicate with distressed customers and how tracker mortgages in arrears are treated.

Legal proceedings to take repossession of the family home could start as soon as Oct 1 under a new code of conduct on mortgage arrears, being released by the Central Bank today.

The Ballyhea protest group took their battle to write down Ireland’s banking debt to the European Commission and one of the key people in the troika.

THE Lough Erne Declaration on tax, a 10-point plan that fits neatly onto an A4 page, falls short of what most economists and campaigners were hoping to see emerge from the hyped group of eight meeting in a bankrupt hotel in Northern Ireland this week.

What happens the money collected by the local property tax? You don’t need to be Constantin Gurdgiev to understand.

Recent press coverage has suggested that our economy is on a “road to recovery”.

The decision by the ECB to hold the main interest rate at 0.75% will come as bad news for tracker mortgage holders, although it is highly unlikely it would have made any difference to holders of standard variable rate mortgages.

The ECB decision to make unlimited purchases of three-year bonds for stressed eurozone member states is being hailed as a game changer, although it does not guarantee the euro will survive.

It’s hard to imagine that just six years ago we were living in a world without Twitter. Pól Ó Conghaile asks top Irish tweeters for their favourite follows — and lists the 20 people everyone should be following.

Ireland’s tax system wasdesigned for an environment that no longer exists and needs to be dramatically overhauled, says economist Constantin Gurdgiev.

Every time we vote, it is a test of trust, a test of ideas and a test of the faith we are prepared to invest in individual politicians, political parties, and political structures.

It’s a bartering system ideally suited for the economic times we’re in — a free exchange of labour or skills between people.

NO says Dr Constantin Gurdgiev

It would be hard to create a more perfect muddle than that around the household charge, which has been a fiasco for the Government and for the Department of the Environment in particular.

The Government is hopeful of reaching a deal with the European Central Bank today to effectively delay the payment of over €3bn of bank debt to Anglo Irish Bank.

The Government’s decision to hold a vote on Europe’s new fiscal treaty adds some much-needed risk to the seeming inevitably of the euro bailout steamroller.

It’s been a long, lonely crusade, marching through their village against the State’s multi-billion bank bailout policy.

SUSTAINING expansion of exports and shifting growth towards the indigenous sector and away from the reliance on multi-nationals is the “sole path” to sustainable future economic growth.

Dublin: Dublin-based wealth manager GoldCore has appointed Constantin Gurdgiev as a non-executive member on the company’s investment committee.

The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural resources Pat Rabbitte has said he is hopeful Ireland will be able to get a reduction in the interest rate on the EU/IMF bailout loan.

UNDER-FIRE Central Bank governor Patrick Honohan has denied he betrayed the national interest during the bailout deal negotiations.

We can either be forced into a disorderly, unmanaged default, or we can engage in organised restructuring now, writes Constantin Gurdgiev

COMEDY and economics seem unlikely bedfellows but it’s a marriage the organisers of a new festival which kicked off yesterday hope will be a winner.

Any rescue puts us between the devil and the deep blue sea, writes Constantin Gurdgiev

CONSUMERS can expect hefty hikes in food prices in the coming weeks.

THE second NAMA business plan explodes many myths expounded when it was originally advocated.

GROWING the knowledge economy will provide the long-term solution to Ireland’s economic problems, delegates at an accountants’ conference were told yesterday.

The amount of money needed to prop up the banks will be known later today - with estimates hovering around €22bn.

NAMA is not and never was the only game in town, Trinity Economics Professor, Brian Lucey, told the Chartered Surveyors Association annual conference yesterday.

The Irish Nightclub Industry Association has published a report today pushing its case for an extension of nightclub opening hours.

Ulster Bank was voted Business Bank of the Year with National Irish Bank picking up an award for best Retail Banking at the KPMG Financial Services Excellence Awards.

ECONOMIC freedom in Ireland is on the decline the Economic Freedom of the World 2003 report states and it is getting worse according to the Irish contributors to the study.