Ireland’s government on Tuesday responded to the clamorous criticism of its business-friendly tax arrangements by closing a loophole used by multinational giants like Google, the International New York Times reported. The European Union and the Obama administration have been increasingly vocal about the tax-avoidance strategies of multinational companies and the countries that enable them. The European Commission is conducting a broad investigation into the relationships between multinationals and perceived tax havens like Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

A liquidator has alleged members of a family perpetrated a fraud against their own development firm before it went bust by transferring a €4 million company property to themselves for no charge. A tax bill of €4.4 million remains unpaid, the liquidator said, the Irish Times reported.

Consumers will face new restrictions in January on the amount of money they can borrow to buy a house or apartment as the Central Bank moves to damp down the property market, the Irish Times reported. As values recover rapidly in Dublin, the Central Bank’s intervention is seen as an effort to prevent the risk of a new price bubble by placing limits on the amount of money banks can lend for mortgages. The Central Bank will set out proposals today to impose new loan-to-value limits on mortgage lending, as well as loan-to-income caps.

Property developer Seán Dunne would be allowed to “further manipulate assets” and frustrate the efforts of his creditors if he is allowed to withdraw his US bankruptcy case, Ulster Bank has told a US court, the Irish Times reported. Objecting to Mr Dunne’s application to dismiss his case before Connecticut’s bankruptcy court, Ulster Bank, one of the US-based developer’s biggest creditors, said in a new legal filing that the investigation into his finances would be “substantially hampered” if the court granted his motion to dismiss.

The Central Bank of Ireland is considering imposing limits on the income multiples financial institutions here use when giving residential mortgages, the Irish Times reported. It is understood that the regulator will issue a consultation paper this month on the imposition of limits as it seeks to gather views from the banking sector and other interested parties. This move comes as property prices begin to soar again, with Dublin prices up 25 per cent in the year to August.

The official in charge of Sean Dunne’s bankruptcy has launched High Court proceedings aimed at setting aside the bankrupt businessman’s transfer of an interest in a €17-€18 million South African hotel to his wife Gayle, the Irish Times reported. The court heard today that Chris Lehane, the official assignee administering Mr Dunne’s bankruptcy, wants to set aside 2005 and 2008 transactions between the Dunnes in respect of the Lagoon Beach Hotel, Cape Town, South Africa.

Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) chief, Kevin Toland, warned trade unionists yesterday that workers at the State company could lose close to €200 million in pension benefits if they do not agree to proposals designed to wind up the insolvent aviation staff retirement scheme, the Irish Times reported.

An insolvency company has revealed details of its clients who have gone bankrupt under rules introduced a year ago, RTÉ News reported. The figures show that banks which lent mortgages to these clients have had to write off 68% of the outstanding debt. In all of the cases the borrowers will lose or have already lost their homes. Some of the borrowers had applied for personal insolvency but were turned down by the banks. The figures have been compiled by the Insolvency Resolution Service, which acts as a personal insolvency practitioner to individuals who are in arrears.

Taxpayers may end up footing the bill for third-party claims related to the collapse of Setanta Insurance, the Irish Times reported. The Maltese-registered insurer went into liquidation in April leaving 75,000 motor policyholders in Ireland with no cover. It had been selling mainly commercial motor insurance through brokers and was known as a low-cost operator. Initially Minister for Finance Michael Noonan signalled the industry-funded Motor Insurance Bureau of Ireland (MIBI) would cover all outstanding third-party claims emanating from the collapse.

The prospect that Irish banks could offload some of their problematic mortgage debts as part of the European Central Bank’s asset-backed security-purchase programme receded this weekend as ECB vice- president Vitor Constancio said the bank would need state guarantees in order to buy lower-ranking debt, the Irish Times reported. At the end of two days of finance ministers meeting, the ECB’s second-in-command said the bank would need some kind of guarantee if it was to buy the riskier debt held by European banks. “We will buy the senior tranches of ABS [asset-backed securities].