Less than a year before European leaders hope to chalk up success for their handling of the sovereign debt crises in Ireland and Portugal, rising bond yields and long-term interest rates are causing concern over how the two countries will exit their bailout programmes, the Financial Times reported. Amid expectations that central banks in the US, Japan and elsewhere will tighten monetary policy, yields on Portugal’s benchmark 10-year bonds surged to 6.6 per cent last week from a low of 5.2 per cent in late May.

The International Monetary Fund has said Ireland is on track with the conditions of its bailout programme, the Irish Times reported. The IMF, one of a trio of lenders overseeing Dublin’s €85 billion bailout, said Ireland’s economy grew modestly in 2012 for the second year in a row and employment during the first quarter of this year was up 1 per cent from the same period a year ago. The IMF’s board approved the tenth disbursal of about $1.27 billion, bringing to $27.79 billion the total funds that Ireland has received from the IMF so far.

The discord between Ryanair and Aer Lingus is the latest in a series of problems facing large companies to focus shareholders on the growing pension deficit problem in Ireland, the Irish Times reported. Aer Lingus, and others, made generous pension promises to employees without putting enough money aside to meet these obligations. Ryanair, as a significant shareholder of Aer Lingus, has warned that it will resist attempts to pass the shortfall onto shareholders. UK independent pension consultant John Ralfe believes pension deficits are a concern.

Galway hotelier and developer Michael Finn and his wife Claire, who are being pursued by the National Asset Management Agency for €108 million, have invested €600,000 in companies operating a high-end car resale business and transferred shares in their family home to their children, the agency has claimed at the Commercial Court, the Irish Times reported. The agency is seeking a €108 million summary judgment orders against the couple who, it alleges, have failed to use funds available to them to reduce their liabilities to it.

HMV-owner Hilco bought Ireland's largest film and computer game rental retailer Xtra-Vision on Tuesday, potentially saving close to 1,000 jobs after the firm sought protection from its creditors in April, Reuters reported. Restructuring specialist Hilco, which rescued Britain's most high-profile entertainment retailer HMV earlier this year, said it hoped it would be able to keep Xtra-vision's remaining 132 stores open following negotiations with landlords.

The Government has nominated six county registrars for appointment as specialist judges of the Circuit Court, creating a new cadre of judges in a move that has been sharply criticised by the judiciary, the Irish Times reported. The role of specialist judge was created under the Personal Insolvency Act to allow the Circuit Court to deal quickly with insolvency applications.

Ireland was given a “back-door bailout” worth around £10 billion (€11.5 billion) by Britain in “an arrangement that was never explicitly approved by parliament”, according to a report today, the Irish Times reported. The London Times claims Ulster Bank has accounted for about a quarter of losses since 2008 at the state-owned Royal Bank of Scotland, which is 81 per cent owned by British taxpayers after a £45 billion state bailout five years ago.

Tensions are likely to rise between Labour and the Finance Minister Michael Noonan over his refusal to consider ending VAT of 23 per cent on those who use the Government's new insolvency service, Independent.ie reported. In particular, a concern is growing within Labour over the double standards being applied to the collection of VAT in Irish and UK personal insolvency plans. Under Alan Shatter's current legislation those availing of the embattled minister's insolvency regime will have to pay 23 per cent VAT on top of fees charged by the Personal Insolvency Practitioner.

The Live Register fell in May, but the number of long term claimants rose as Ireland’s unemployment rate remained high, the Irish Times reported. A total of 426,100 people signed on last month, seasonally adjusted figures showed. That represented a decrease of 700 month on month, and 11,000 year on year, with the register falling to its lowest level since August 2009. On an unadjusted basis, there were 421,737 on the register last month, falling by 2.6 per cent or 11,170 year on year.

Ireland's Insolvency Service has launched a single gateway for stakeholders to file complaints against an insolvency practitioner, Accountancy Age reported. The gateway will remove the need for stakeholders, such as creditors involved in an insolvency process, having to lodge a complaint with one of the eight regulators, something which has previously been described as overly complicated. From today nearly all complaints about an insolvency practitioner will be made via a common complaints gateway hosted by the Insolvency Service - based in Leeds.