Permanent TSB’S decision to introduce immediate increases of between 2 and 3 per cent on its fixed interest rates for existing mortgage holders rolling off fixed or discounted rates has been described as “shocking”, the Irish Times reported. The bank announced last night it was increasing its two-year fixed term rate from 5.25 per cent to 7.25 per cent while the five-year fixed rate will go from 5.75 per cent to 8.75 per cent. A 10-year fixed rate will increase from 6.1 per cent to 9.1 per cent.

A report from Goodbody Stockbrokers has argued that the State cannot bear the losses from the banking crisis on its own, RTE News reported. In a report on Irish debt levels, Goodbody says there should be some form of risk-sharing with bondholders. But it adds that Ireland cannot do this on its own, and should push for a Europe-wide solution to the problem. Goodbody says some €21 billion of bank debt should be restructured now - otherwise there will have to be a restructuring of Irish sovereign debt some time after 2014.

Anglo Irish Bank, the reckless institution at the heart of Ireland's slide towards bankruptcy, has reported a preliminary euro17.6 billion ($24 billion) loss for 2010 - by far the worst in Irish corporate history, the Associated Press reported. State-owned Anglo revealed the staggering figure Tuesday after the Dublin High Court approved a government plan to merge Anglo with another bust bank, Irish Nationwide, within weeks. The court order permits both banks to auction off their surviving deposit bases to solvent Irish banks.

European Central Bank (ECB) chief Jean-Claude Trichet has reiterated his opposition to any debt restructuring by Ireland, saying the terms of the EU-IMF bailout plan for the State have been approved by “the entire world”, the Irish Times reported. Mr Trichet’s remarks before a committee of the European Parliament come against the backdrop of demands for the renegotiation of key elements of the deal by Fine Gael and Labour, which hope to be in government within weeks.

Ireland's main opposition party Fine Gael on Friday said the next government would be forced to "unilaterally" restructure the debt of Irish banks if agreement cannot be reached with Europe on senior bond holders sharing the cost of recapitalizing the country's insolvent banks, The Wall Street Journal reported. Fine Gael, the favourite to form the next coalition government, said ideally senior bond holders in nationalized banks, such as Anglo Irish Bank Corp. and Irish Nationwide Building Society, would be forced to share the burden through a Europe-wide framework.

A dispute over loan security with their bank prevented the Taggart brothers from bringing up to £70 million of new capital into their construction business and ultimately led to its collapse, according to Michael Taggart, who confirmed at the weekend that he and his brother John are suing Ulster Bank, the Irish Times reported.

The National Asset Management Agency has lost a legal challenge in the Supreme Court taken by property investor Paddy McKillen to stop the transfer of €2.1 billion of loans to the State’s “bad bank”, the Irish Times reported. The seven-judge court unanimously allowed his appeal – overturning a High Court ruling – after it found Nama had never at any stage made a legally valid decision to acquire Mr McKillen’s loans. The Supreme Court ruled the decision taken by Nama to acquire his loans was taken before the agency was legally set up and no subsequent act changed this.

Ireland's parliament was dissolved Tuesday for a long-awaited Feb. 25 election as Prime Minister Brian Cowen exited the political stage defending his management of the nation's plunge toward bankruptcy, the Associated Press reported. Cowen declared a formal end to his government two months after he was forced to negotiate a euro67.5 billion ($92 billion) loan package from the European Union and International Monetary Fund, a measure he had insisted Ireland did not need. Cowen told a silent, somber parliament that his 2 1/2 years as prime minister "have been a time of great trial and test.

The Sunday Tribune newspaper has been placed into receivership after its main financial backer, Independent News & Media (IN&M), withdrew its support from the company yesterday, the Irish Times reported. The move puts the jobs of 43 staff at the newspaper in doubt although IN&M has agreed to pay staff for four more weeks to give the receiver – Jim Luby of McStay Luby – an opportunity to secure an investor for the title. It was not clear yesterday if Mr Luby would have sufficient financial resources to publish the newspaper this Sunday.

An amendment to the legislation covering the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) published yesterday will allow for the transfer of up to 20,000 additional small loans from Bank of Ireland and AIB to the agency, the Irish Times reported. The National Asset Management Agency (Amendment) Bill 2011 provides a legislative framework for the transfer to Nama of land and development loans previously excluded on the basis that they were valued below a threshold of €20 million. The removal of this threshold was agreed with the EU and IMF in November as part of the bailout package.