Ireland

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan said Ireland will not adopt a new European tax on financial transactions. Under Denmark’s presidency of the EU, talks were set in train to introduce such a tax in a limited number of countries, the Irish Times reported. Although the Minister left the door open to participate in a slimmed-down tax scheme, he made it clear to his EU counterparts that Ireland would not adopt a full-blown transaction tax along the lines proposed by the European Commission.

A High Court judge has continued orders restraining the children of bankrupt businessman Seán Quinn, a nephew, two sons- in-law and a number of international companies, from dealing with assets owned or controlled by them worldwide below €50 million each, the Irish Times reported. The Quinn defendants will be allowed €2,000 living expenses each until the injunction orders return to court next Wednesday, plus legal and perhaps some domestic expenses subject to formal approval by the court.

Government delays in reforming personal insolvency laws are a “specific source of concern” for the EU-ECB-IMF troika and could, it warned, trigger a deterioration of payment discipline. In their sixth report, seen by the Irish Times, the troika said Nama faces “challenges . . . to meet its debt redemption charges” next year, with bond targets likely to be revised downward. In addition, it warns that, despite cutbacks, “fiscal consolidation is far from complete”.

An adviser to former minister for finance Brian Lenihan has said the format of the bailout deal for the Irish banks was a mistake, which is being repeated again in the rescue package for Spain, the Irish Times reported. Alan Ahearne of NUI Galway said funds should have been injected directly into the Irish banks rather than given to the State.

The country’s two main banks, Bank of Ireland and AIB, may struggle to meet the target of sanctioning €3.5 billion in new loans to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) set for each lender, according to the head of the Credit Review Office John Trethowan, the Irish Times reported.

The timing of Ireland’s return to borrowing in the international markets and the cost of that borrowing remains unclear, despite the Yes vote in the fiscal referendum being positive for the country, according to the credit ratings agency Fitch, the Irish Times reported. The public endorsement of the EU fiscal compact “removes a potential source of considerable uncertainty about Ireland’s future funding” as the vote has removed the immediate concern about where Ireland could find a second bailout, Fitch said.

Irish banks will need up to €4 billion more over the next six years to meet international rules on the levels of capital they must hold, the deputy governor of the Central Bank Matthew Elderfield has said, the Irish Times reported. In an interview with German newspaper Boersen-Zeitung, Mr Elderfield said the banks would require a further €3 billion-€4 billion to meet the international capital rules but he hoped the banks would be able to raise this funding themselves from profits.

Property developer Patrick McKillen’s declaration that £660 million (€826 million) worth of debt on three London hotels could have been refinanced if more time had been given is “nonsense”, the National Asset Management Agency has argued. In the high court action in London, Mr McKillen’s legal team argued that Nama had acted unlawfully when it sold £660 million worth of debt secured on Claridge’s, the Berkeley and the Connaught to the billionaire Barclay brothers, the Irish Times reported.

A five-year survival scheme for Eircom approved by the High Court Tuesday will see it and related companies exit the State's biggest-ever examinership on June 11th, the Irish Times reported. Mr Justice Peter Kelly said today he was satisfied to confirm the scheme advocated by Michael McAteer - the examiner to Eircom Ltd, Meteor Mobile Communications and Irish Telecommunications Investments Ltd - and endorsed by most of its creditors.

Lenders are being pressed to identify borrowers who are unlikely to be able to repay mortgages and to push for agreed sales of properties and the repayment of any shortfall under plans being devised for the Central Bank, the Irish Times reported. The regulator said it was “not comfortable” with the level of mortgage arrears and wants the banks to do more to tackle the worsening mortgage crisis.