Ireland injected more capital into its banks than any other Euro zone country in terms of percentage of GDP, it experienced the highest increase of government debt as a result of its financial support to the banking sector, and it has one of the poorest recovery rates for this financial support, a report from the European Central Bank found on Wednesday, the Irish Times reported.

The State’s bank guarantee from September 2008 was “too generous” and “magnified the fiscal impact of the banking crisis”, said the European Commission’s director general for economic and financial affairs, the Irish Times reported. “At the same time, it is clear that the decision was taken in a very difficult situation characterised by great risks and uncertainty,” Marco Buti told the banking inquiry.

A review of the State’s six pillar banks which found 10 borrowers owed a combined €17.7 billion in September 2008 came as a “very significant” surprise, the Oireachtas banking inquiry has heard, the Irish Times reported. Denis O’Connor, a partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers, told the committee the firm was hired by the financial regulator at that time to examine potential problems and liabilities in the banks. The review found that, in the worst-case scenario, the six institutions could lose €10 billion. The cost subsequently transpired to be €64 billion.

Irish mortgage lenders are set to again come under pressure from the Department of Finance over their standard variable rate (SVR) mortgage offerings, which remain substantially higher than EU averages, the Irish Times reported. Minister for Finance Michael Noonan is set to meet with all the banks prior to the October Budget. He will likely ask why there has been no significant movement on lowering SVR mortgages, despite a significantly lower cost of wholesale funding.

The first meeting of the five-person committee of inspection that will oversee the interests of creditors in the liquidation of OCS Operations, the trading arm of Clerys, will take place on Monday at the Dublin offices of KPMG, the Irish Times reported. Concession-holders owed more than €2 million in takings by the bust department store succeeded on Tuesday in gaining three seats on the group. Helen Lynch, owner of Best of Irish Designs, David Jones of Best Menswear and Keith Rogers of shoe retailer Ecco are believed to be the business-owners elected to the body.

Loans to Irish households fell 2.8 per cent in July, new data from the Central Bank has shown, while lending to companies showed a decline of 6.9 per cent year on year, the Irish Times reported. The figures showed household loan repayments exceeded drawdowns by €346 million during the month, continuing a trend seen the previous month, as the number of loans issued for house purchases fell. During July, the number of loans drawn down for consumption and other purchases fell by €99 million.

The private equity fund that backed the buyout of parts of the former Quinn Group last year is poised to swoop on the Irish arm of troubled Dutch engineer, Imtech, saving 700 jobs, the Irish Times reported. The parent of Waterford engineering business, Imtech Suir, confirmed yesterday that it is in talks about a possible sale of the company to US and European investment fund Endless LLP and predicted that a deal would close next week.

John Purcell, a former executive director of Irish Nationwide Building Society, has launched a High Court challenge to the constitutionality of the Central Bank’s inquiry into alleged regulatory breaches at the financial institution, the Irish Times reported. Mr Purcell, along with several others, is the subject of an inquiry into allegations that certain proscribed contraventions were committed by INBS, and certain persons concerned with its management, between August 2004 and September 2008. Irish Nationwide was nationalised in 2010 after receiving a €5.4 billion bailout.

State authorities have expressed concern at evidence of bogus self-employment and contracting work which may be depriving the Government of tax revenue and workers of sick pay and other protections, the Irish Times reported. Joint investigations involving the Revenue Commissioners and the Department of Social Protection uncovered almost 200 cases in the construction industry alone over the past year. But authorities have also found evidence of a blurring of the lines between employees and the self-employed in a range of other sectors such as IT, media and consultancy.

The High Court grounded an aircraft, allegedly belonging to a state airline of the Democratic Republic of Congo, from leaving Dublin Airport in a dispute over a debt of €10 million, the Irish Times reported. The interim injunction prevents both the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and La Société Congo Airlines from moving, operating or otherwise interfering with the aircraft – an Airbus A320 undergoing works in Dublin – without their consent. The injunction also prohibits the aircraft’s removal from the jurisdiction.