The involvement of the Irish Central Bank in the promissory deal is "problematic", Germany's Bundesbank said in its monthly report Monday, the Irish Times reported. The German central bank highlighted what it described as "the increasingly stronger and more problematic inter-linkage between monetary and fiscal policy in the European monetary union". "The European Stability Mechanism, which should be responsible in this regard, has been established to provide any help to individual member states in servicing debt," it said.

This week’s report by the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development on multinational taxation may make uncomfortable reading for some Irish policymakers, the Irish Times reported. This is particularly so when you read the examples given in Appendix C of the report, where the authors describe some corporate structures designed to help multinationals avoid taxation. The structures outlined are familiar to those who read about such matters and know what is meant by the “double Irish” and the “Dutch sandwich”.

Household financial distress is at unprecedented levels as seen in the extraordinary rates of arrears in owner-occupied mortgages, according to Central Bank governor Patrick Honohan. Speaking at the bank’s conference on distressed property markets this morning, Mr Honohan said negative equity is not a rationale for debt relief and that the bank will be "ramping up" its contact with financial institutions that have been "behind the curve" in addressing mortgage arrears, the Irish Times reported.

The High Court has confirmed an examiner to B&Q Ireland Ltd, which operates nine home improvement stores employing 690 people, of whom 500 are part-time workers, the Irish Times reported. As part of further cost-cutting proposals, the company’s two stores in Athlone and Waterford would close with the “regrettable” loss of 92 jobs, Mr Justice Peter Kelly noted. A key ingredient for the survival of some of the company’s other stores includes renegotiation of what he described as “extraordinary” rents.

Everybody seemed to be talking about monetary financing of debt last week – the ultimate taboo in monetary policy. And hidden behind a veil of unbelievable complexity, the eurozone may have done just that, the Financial Times reported. Various European central bankers rushed to proclaim that the agreed rescheduling of Ireland’s so-called promissory notes would not set a precedent for sovereign debt laundering. In legal terms, the agreement is probably watertight. It may be a borderline issue, but who cares? In economic terms, the situation is much clearer.

Euro zone finance ministers meeting in Brussels will discuss the workings of the euro zone’s rescue fund, the ESM, though any discussion on its application to AIB and Bank of Ireland is likely to be some months away, the Irish Times reported. While the issue of legacy assets was discussed by euro zone finance ministers last month, senior EU sources have indicated the issue has been put on the back burner, and serious consideration of the question of retrospective recapitalisation will not be on the agenda until April at the earliest.

Financial benefits resulting from the agreement on bank debt does not necessarily equate to an alleviation of austerity, the secretary general of the Department of Finance has suggested. John Moran said that breathing space created by last week’s deal provided the Government with options for forthcoming budgets. But it does not automatically mean a dramatic shift in the State’s approach towards reducing the deficit, the Irish Times reported. “You basically have a choice with respect to the money that you are no longer spending,” he said.

Liquidators will be appointed to the Irish Bank Resolution Corp, following the introduction of emergency legislation in the Dáil shortly after midnight by Minister for Finance Michael Noonan, the Irish Times reported. The legislation was drafted as part of a deal with the European Central Bank (ECB) that will result in a major improvement in the terms of Ireland's bank debt. The ECB's governing council will discuss the deal today at its monthly meeting in Frankfurt.

Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny said on Thursday that a new schedule for repaying debts incurred in support of the country's stricken banks will reduce his government's borrowing needs over the next decade and cut its budget deficit by €1 billion ($1.35 billion) a year, The Wall Street Journal reported. He told lawmakers that under a plan that had been discussed with the European Central Bank, the government will exchange new bonds with maturities of as long as 40 years for existing promissory notes with an average duration of between seven and eight years.

An attempt by Ireland to ease its debt burden was thrown into disarray early on Thursday as the government scrambled to introduce emergency legislation to liquidate Anglo Irish Bank, the failed lender, without having secured a key debt swap deal with the European Central Bank, the Financial Times reported. The government had intended to announce the liquidation of the bank alongside a deal with the ECB on replacing €28bn in costly promissory notes, used to bail out Anglo Irish in 2009.