Ireland

Ireland needs to act “urgently”to put in place by 2020 an auto-enrolment system, which would boost private pension coverage, the Irish Times reported. “A road map needs to be put in place for the introduction of an auto-enrolment system for all Irish businesses. I am calling in the Government to make it an urgent priority to ensure that an auto-enrolment system is put into Irish law by 2020. I believe this can be done through crossparty agreement,” Brian Hayes MEP said. His comments come against a background of declining private pension coverage in Ireland.

The special liquidators of Irish Bank Resolution Corporation have secured court orders approving a process to repay an estimated €100 million in overcharged interest by the former Anglo Irish Bank. The orders were sought arising from a High Court finding of 2011 that the bank had overcharged John Morrissey, Palmerston Road, Ranelagh, €143,676 in interest on an overall sum of some €31.6 million allegedly owed to it, the Irish Times reported.

A High Court judge has directed Gayle Dunne, wife of property developer Seán Dunne, must hand over certain documents related to alleged transfers by her husband to her of assets valued at about €100 million. The documents include Ms Dunne’s tax returns from 2005-2014, insofar as they relate to those assets. Chris Lehane, the official administering Mr Dunne’s Irish bankruptcy, sought the documents for his proceedings against Ms Dunne, disputing two alleged asset transfer agreements between Mr Dunne and his wife in 2005 and 2008.

The liquidator of Rush Credit Union is expected to market its loan book for sale this week after the High Court ordered the winding up of the community lender in north Co Dublin, the Irish Times reported. McStay Luby will seek to find a buyer for the loan book, which is understood to have a face value of about €9 million and comprises about 1,500 loans. The liquidators will also seek to sell the credit union’s offices in the villages of Rush and Lusk. These were valued last year at €900,000.

The liquidators of Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) are set to issue an initial payment to unsecured creditors within a fortnight, including a cheque of about €275 million for the State, the Irish Times reported. However, a group of junior bondholders in the bank, who refused to share in the group’s losses during the crisis, face waiting at least two years before they discover how much of the €285 million they are owned will be repaid.

The Central Bank’s key decision-making board is due to consider changes to its controversial mortgage lending rules next Wednesday, with some significant alterations to the existing regime likely to be announced afterwards, the Irish Times reported. The Central Bank Commission – effectively the board of the bank – will be asked to consider proposals designed to increase the flow of lending, particularly to first-time buyers. However the bulk of the rules will remain, with senior Central Bank figures arguing that they are essential in order to underpin a sustainable market.

Bank of Ireland has told the Oireachtas finance committee that it would utilise any extra lending capacity if the current rules on mortgage lending were relaxed by the Central Bank, the Irish Times reported. In a document submitted to the committee in advance of Richie Boucher’s appearance on Thursday, the bank said it would make use of any relaxation in the current rule, which allows it to exempt 15 per cent of loans from the loan-to-value limits imposed by the regulator.

Less than one-tenth of those who commute into and around Dublin travel by rail, according to a major report on Ireland’s railways which warns that Iarnród Éireann could face insolvency unless it gets more State money, the Irish Times reported. The National Transport Authority’s review was considered by Cabinet on Tuesday and later published – it declares the semi-State needs an extra €103 million a year over the next five years to ensure its survival.

The large stock of problem loans that remain to be worked through by Irish banks remains the “most critical issue” for the sector here and will continue to slow their recovery, ratings agency Moody’s has said. It also expects the Government to dispose of its stakes in Irish banks later in 2017 or in 2018. The State owns 99.9 per cent of AIB, 75 per cent of Permanent TSB and 14 per cent of Bank of Ireland. In a report on Irish banks published on Monday, Moody’s noted that problem loans for rated Irish banks totalled €41.5 billion as the end of 2015, down from €67 billion a year earlier.

Ireland has one of the highest shares of non-performing SME loans in the European Union, with many property-related loans secured on SME businesses during the boom, Central Bank governor Philip Lane has said, the Irish Times reported. Speaking at ISME’s annual conference, Mr Lane added that the stock of outstanding balances in default had declined, with fewer SMEs entering default and more returning to performing-loan status. “The SME sector has undergone substantial deleveraging: the stock of loans to SMEs in 2016 is about half that in 2010,” he said.