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.

Seán Dunne faces the possibility of being declared bankrupt in Ireland as well as in the United States after a Connecticut court allowed Ulster Bank to continue its Irish bankruptcy action against him, the Irish Times reported. In a major setback for the Co Carlow developer, the US bankruptcy court in Connecticut, where he now lives, approved an application by Ulster Bank - one of his biggest creditors which is owed more than €300 million - to continue with Irish legal proceedings to have him adjudicated a bankrupt in Ireland.

An Irish property developer, Eugene O’Neill, who came to prominence after he backed out of a deal to sell apartments in Dublin during the height of the property boom, has been bankrupted in Britain, following a petition lodged by a subsidiary of the Zurich insurance company, the Irish Times reported. The bankruptcy order was made against Mr O’Neill, who gave an address in Ealing in West London, and lately of Osbertown Lodge, Osbertown, Co Kildare, on the petition of Dunbar Assets Ireland, based in the Irish Financial Services Centre.

A total of 116 Irish companies collapsed in May, a 25 per cent fall compared with the same month last year. A total of 609 corporate insolvencies were recorded in the first five months of 2013, according to figures compiled by Kavanagh Fennell’s insolvencyjournal.ie website. This compares with 742 from January to May 2012, a fall of 18 per cent, the Irish Times reported. Leinster was the worst affected province, accounting for 68 per cent of corporate insolvencies in May, followed by Munster with 18 per cent, Connaught with 9 per cent and Ulster with 5 per cent.

The EU Commission has urged the Government to confront a re-emergence of lax lending standards in the banking system, warning in a new report that it sees fresh signs of bad practice in some lenders, the Irish Times reported. The commission expressed concern about the banks, which have received more than €60 billion in State aid, as it said the proceeds of the deal to scrap the Anglo Irish Bank promissory note scheme should be used to pay down debt.