Ireland's new parliament elected soft-spoken Enda Kenny prime minister Wednesday to lead a coalition government that faces immediate pressure to revive the nation's debt-crippled economy, The Huffington Post reported. Kenny, 59, vowed to solve a bank-bailout crisis that has overwhelmed Ireland's finances and required an emergency rescue by the European Union and International Monetary Fund. He said terms of the EU-IMF loans must be renegotiated to make them more affordable for Ireland and enable the country's recovery from record deficits and double-digit unemployment.

Eircom workers have been told by their union leaders the heavily indebted telecoms group could be taken over by its lenders if they do not agree to implement the €92 million in labour savings outlined last week in its rescue plan, the Irish Times reported. The warning came from the Communications Workers’ Union (CWU), which represents the majority of Eircom’s 7,170-strong workforce.

Ireland's new government will stick to the budget targets laid down in an 85 billion euro EU/IMF rescue package as it seeks to win European partners round to giving it easier terms on the loans, Reuters reported. Ireland's prime minister in-waiting Enda Kenny is under huge pressure to persuade Europe's paymaster Germany to cut the interest rate Brussels is charging and give Dublin more time to restructure its banks before a Europe-wide deal on the debt crisis is hammered out at summit on March 24-25.

Bank of Ireland repeatedly misled outgoing Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan by insisting that no performance-related bonuses had been paid to its senior management, a report by the Department of Finance reveals, the Irish Times reported. The bank is to pay €2 million to the State in recompense for misleading Mr Lenihan and the Oireachtas on bonuses. Following a parliamentary question in November 2010, the bank insisted to Mr Lenihan that no performance-related bonuses had been paid in respect of the financial years ending in March 2009 and December 2009.

New statistics released by InsolvencyJournal.ie show that 5 companies went out of business per day in February 2011. There was a 59% increase on the January figures with 153 companies going bust, compared to 96 in January. This is the second highest monthly total InsolvencyJournal.ie has recorded in its history (156 being the highest for December 2009.) Commenting on the figures, Ken Fennell, partner with kavanaghfennell, the firm who compile the data, said, “Although this month’s figures are high, they are in line with the rate of insolvencies for the same month last year.

Billionaire financier George Soros says the incoming government has a “legitimate” claim to impose bailout losses on senior bank bondholders and warns Ireland could be “dragged down” for years by Europe’s no-default policy, the Irish Times reported. Fine Gael and Labour each pledged during the election campaign to tackle senior bond investors. However, as they embarked on coalition talks, EU economics commissioner Olli Rehn ruled out any move in that direction.

The Department of Finance provided repeated warnings to the Government about the risks involved in running pro-cyclical budgetary policy during the boom years, a report has revealed, the Irish Times reported. However the report, drafted by a team commissioned to investigate the department’s performance over the past 10 years, criticised it for not altering the tone of its warnings as they were ignored in successive budgets. The report adds that the department also warned about the dangers of an overheated construction sector.

The European Commission has ruled out any move by the incoming government to compel senior bondholders to bear losses on their investments in Ireland’s banks, the Irish Times reported. Although Fine Gael and Labour each pledged during the election they would impose losses on the holders of senior bank debt, economics commissioner Olli Rehn made it clear yesterday such a manoeuvre would not find support in Europe. The stance of the commissioner, who did not elaborate, was in line with the European Central Bank’s opposition to any default on senior bank bonds.

The National Asset Management Agency imposed no haircut on AIB’s loan on the Montevetro building in Dublin as the loan was provided after the Government announced plans for the agency, the Irish Times reported. AIB lent about €30 million to the developer of the building, Real Estate Opportunities, in which Treasury Holdings is a major shareholder, after April 2009 when Nama was unveiled. No discounts were imposed on development loans provided after April 2009 following an agreement between the banks and Central Bank governor John Hurley.

Ireland's main opposition party, Fine Gael, won a clear victory in Friday's election, setting Dublin on course for a showdown with the European Union over the terms of its €67.5 billion ($92.83 billion) international bailout, The Wall Street Journal reported. Enda Kenny, the Fine Gael leader widely expected to become prime minister, said Saturday that the bailout was "a bad deal for Ireland and a bad deal for Europe" and added: "We are not going to cry the poor mouth, other than to say the reality of this challenge is too much." Mr.