A Galway dairy farmer has won 50% of the votes in the Irish Farmers Association elections to become its new president.

More than 500 turned up in Tullamore in Co Offaly on Tuesday for the last of the IFA’s 25 debates by presidential candidates. 

The number of fully paid-up members eligible to vote in the upcoming IFA elections stands at 75,501, said IFA National Chairman Jer Bergin last week.

The first votes in the election for the next president and deputy president of the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) were cast last night.

Former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi met Irish government officials in late 2010 about a potential €1.4bn Bank of Ireland investment — but pulled out because he did not feel “comfortable” with our control of the financial crisis.

The Oireachtas banking inquiry will tomorrow question former taoiseach Bertie Ahern on whether he knew Ireland’s banks were facing economic collapse before the May 2007 general election and his resignation one year later.

Politicians of all hues paid their respects to Albert the peacemaker as thousands gathered to say their final goodbye to the former taoiseach.

The Lone Ranger (12A) opens in San Francisco in 1933, with an aged Native American warrior, Tonto (Johnny Depp), telling a young boy about how the legend of the West’s masked lawman began.

Aha! The long-awaited Alan Partridge movie is finally here. And it’s textbook Partridge.

High farce and drama unfolded at Bank of Ireland’s AGM yesterday as shareholders rounded on the board for the collapse in the bank’s share price over the past few years as well as billions in losses.

The head of the Irish Banking Federation, Pat Farrell, has been appointed by Bank of Ireland as head of communications and government affairs.

Nearly 4,000 people rushed to draw down mortgages in the final three months of last year to take advantage of the Government’s mortgage interest relief.

Debt forgiveness on some outstanding SME loans will be required to deal with the debt crisis, a Dáil committee was told yesterday.

The Irish Banking Federation is defending itself against an accusation from the Central Bank that financial institutions are in denial about the mortgage arrears crisis.

More than 65,000 households have failed to make a mortgage repayment in at least six months, with figures from the Central Bank showing the extent of the problem continues to escalate.

New figures show that 10.9% of mortgages were more than three months in arrears in the second quarter of the year.

The Government has been urged to demand that bailed-out banks open their books after a study found Ireland was second only to Greece in terms of refusing loans to small firms.

The Irish Banking Federation (IBF) claims there are “fundamental weaknesses” with the Central Bank report which found small businesses here faced some of the most challenging credit conditions in the eurozone.

The Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association (ISME) has today called on the Government to demand that bailed-out banks open their books after a study claimed Ireland is second only to Greece in terms of refusing loans to small firms.

There has been an angry reaction to a report on Irish banks' lending record published today.

Despite an increase in loans to first-time buyers and mover-purchasers for the first time since 2006, an industry expert has predicted that 2012 could be the worst year for mortgage lending since 1971.

Plans to reduce the terms of bankruptcy for struggling borrowers will leave them facing eight years of insolvency terms instead of the proposed three.

Four years into the economic crisis, the Government has confronted the reality of the debt problem which is crippling so many, the head of campaigning group Free Legal Advice Centres has said.

VIABLE but vulnerable small businesses need loans to avoid closure, not skewed banking credit surveys, according to ISME chief executive Mark Fielding.

More than two-thirds of loan applications by small businesses this year were approved, a new report has revealed.

THE Irish Banking Federation (IBF) has rejected calls from the Financial Regulator for restrictions to banks’ mortgage lending rates, saying lenders should be able to set their own rates.

The Irish Banking Federation said today its members should retain the right to set interest rates for its standard variable rate mortgages.

The Irish Banking Federation has defended itself against accusations that banks are not trying to help those in mortgage arrears.

FARMERS cannot convert more than five hectares of uncultivated land or semi-natural area to intensive agriculture without having an environmental impact assessment (EIA) screening carried out by Department of Agriculture officials, under regulations designed to avert multi-million euro fines.

STRUGGLING homeowners may have to wait for the budget in three months before action is taken to solve the mortgage crisis.

TRACES of bacteria were found in 25% of agricultural diesel samples tested in a nationwide survey commissioned by the IFA.

ISME, the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association, wants the Government to force banks to publish full and accurate figures on new and additional bank lending.

FIANNA FÁIL former taoisigh, ministers and party colleagues have praised the political career of Brian Lenihan and described the father-of-two as a colourful character.

FARMERS have recommended a retrofit scheme, and use of integrated, constructed wetlands, to head off the threat of European Court of Justice fines of a €2.7m lump-sum and 26,173 per day, because of delays in setting up a septic-tank inspection system.

LANDOWNERS are at the mercy of intruders due to delays in passing the Defence & Dwelling Bill which was agreed upon last July, says the Irish Farmers Association (IFA).

FAIR dues to Edmund Honohan. The master of the high court has called it as he sees it. His job means that he has the role akin to air traffic controller in processing legal debt conflict.

MORTGAGE lending has halved, with an average of just 36 approved per day in the first three months of the year.

THE row over claims by the Master of the High Courts that repossession threats led to suicides among struggling mortgage holders deepened yesterday after bankers dismissed the remarks as inflammatory and emotive.

IFA Environment and Rural Affairs chairman Pat Farrell called on the Road Safety Authority to end a requirement that farmers sit a trailer-towing driving test.

THE Government has moved to take back direct control of the health service by overhauling the board of the Health Service Executive (HSE) ahead of the promised dismantling of the executive.