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.

The Central Bank has sold a further €500 million of the boom-time debts racked up by the former Anglo Irish Bank. The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) has announced it acquired the 2043 floating-rate bonds from the Central Bank and cancelled them, the Irish Times reported. The transaction is part of the scheme to eliminate the old Anglo promissory notes that were used to bail out the floundering institution at the height of the last financial crisis. The promissory notes were replaced with government debt held by the Central Bank.

Irish households remain the fourth most indebted in the EU, according to new figures from the Central Bank, the Irish Times reported. The quarterly financial accounts show household debt was largely unchanged at €148.4 billion during the second quarter of 2016. This represented a decline of less than €0.2 billion, and was the lowest quarterly fall in household debt since the fourth quarter of 2008, when households first began to reduce debt. The Central Bank said household debt as a proportion of disposable income fell over the quarter from 151.3 per cent to 150.4 per cent.

The Irish government on Wednesday filed an appeal seeking to stop efforts by European authorities to force Apple to pay the country $14.3 billion to cover what antitrust officials say are unpaid taxes, the International New York Times reported. Margrethe Vestager, Europe’s competition chief, ordered Apple in August to pay the amount, alleging the company had received preferential tax rulings from the Irish government that gave Apple an unfair advantage over rivals. Both Ireland and Apple deny any wrongdoing.

A squeeze in the number of buy-to-let properties available in the Irish property market is likely to happen as many interest-only arrangements end and borrowers become liable for substantially higher repayments, the Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valuers (IPAV) has warned. In a submission to the Department of Housing, the group’s chief executive, Pat Davitt, said many investors are now reaching the end of their 10-year interest-only period and will become liable for capital repayments in addition to interest, the Irish Times reported.

The fist net outflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) from Ireland since 2011 has been linked to the restructuring of balance sheets amid the current clampdown on multinational tax avoidance. The OECD’s latest analysis of FDI trends and developments shows the flow of foreign investment into Ireland fell to minus $0.4 billion in the first half of 2016, driven by a $19 billion outflow in the second quarter.