Justice Minister Alan Shatter has admitted that changes are needed to the new Personal Insolvency System while he also defended how it is operating, Independent.ie reported. He was speaking at a conference for Personal Insolvency Practitioners (Pips) on introducing new ways to make the debt deals work more smoothly. Mr Shatter said that some changes to the insolvency regime introduced last year were "inevitable", when he addressed the first conference of the new Insolvency Service of Ireland (ISI).

An English subsidiary of troubled building group, Siac, is seeking court protection from its creditors, according to reports, the Irish Times reported. West Sussex-based Graham Wood Structural, owned by the Irish building group, has filed notice of its intention to appoint administrators. Such a move means that it will get protection from any legal action by creditors seeking to recover their debts from the company. Graham Wood specialises in complex structural steel projects. The business lost £1.5 million in 2011 and £1.2 million in 2012.

Siac’s future remains undecided after three creditors claiming they are owed a total of more than €30 million yesterday challenged a proposed rescue plan for the construction group in the High Court, the Irish Times reported. Investors, including owners the Feighery family, director Finn Lyden, French group Colas and private backer Ducales, are willing to put €10.5 million into the troubled group under the terms of a rescue plan proposed by High Court-appointed examiner Michael McAteer of Grant Thornton.

The first protective certificate in a High Court personal insolvency case was issued yesterday for a woman with debts of about €2.5 million, which she cannot repay, the Irish Times reported. Although such certificates protecting a debtor from bankruptcy proceedings have already been issued at Circuit Court level, the case was the first of its kind to be dealt with in the High Court. Ms Justice Marie Baker said she was satisfied to issue the certificate, having considered the application from the new Insolvency Service of Ireland.

An interim examiner has been appointed by the High Court to Elverys Sports which employs 654 people in 56 stores nationwide, the Irish Times reported. The move on foot of a petition by Nama comes as a pre-pack recevership of the company ahead of a management buy-out unravelled in the last few days. Mr Justice Brian McGovern was told that the board of the company which owns Elverys Sports , Staunton Sports, supported the petition for an interim examiner to be appointed.

Three former Anglo Irish Bank directors were aware of a “choreographed” and “absolutely illegal” scheme to fund the buying of shares in the bank, the jury was told on the opening day of the bankers’ trial yesterday, the Irish Times reported. Seán FitzPatrick (65), William McAteer (63) and Pat Whelan (51) are accused of providing unlawful financial assistance to members of businessman Seán Quinn’s family and the so-called Maple 10, a trusted group of Anglo borrowers, to buy shares in Anglo in July 2008.

AIB is set to write off debt immediately for homeowners in arrears who are deemed eligible for a new split mortgage product, the Irish Times reported. Under the plan disclosed last night, a customer deemed eligible for a split mortgage will have the loan broken into two tranches. The first part, which the customer will be expected to repay, will be based on the current market value of their home, while the other will be warehoused, interest free, for settlement at a later date.

Mike Ashley, the billionaire owner of Newcastle United football club, flew into Dublin over the weekend as part of a last- ditch bid to prevent the proposed sale of Elverys Sports to its management and other investors, the Irish Times reported. Mr Ashley controls the listed UK retailer Sports Direct, which owns a 50 per cent stake in Heatons, the Irish department store chain. Heatons wants to buy Elverys, which is close to finalising a deal, backed by the National Asset Management Agency (Nama), to be bought out by a consortium assembled by the advisory firm Capnua.

Mayo-based Elverys Sports is set to be placed into receivership before being acquired by the company’s management team with the backing of investors brought to the deal by Dublin-based corporate finance house Capnua. This will secure the 650 jobs at the 55 Elverys outlets across the country but will result in the current owners, Mayo brothers John and James Staunton, no longer being involved in the business, the Irish Times reported.

AIB has raised with the Government the issue of bank bonuses being reinstated and the cap on pay for executives being lifted, the Irish Times reported. It is understood that the matter was raised with officials at the Department of Finance earlier this month by AIB chairman David Hodgkinson and Jim O’Hara, who chairs the bank’s remuneration committee. The Department of Finance confirmed yesterday that the matter had been discussed but declined to comment further.