Pressure mounted on Ireland on Wednesday to agree to a joint European Union-International Monetary Fund rescue package, as fresh evidence emerged of fading confidence in the country’s banking system, the Financial Times reported. With the rescue mission poised to begin negotiations with the Irish government on Thursday, analysts said there was growing evidence that bank deposits were dwindling, after Irish Life & Permanent said corporate customers had withdrawn €600m – more than 11 per cent of the total – over a matter of weeks in August and September.

Anglo Irish Bank is seeking summary judgment for more than €17 million against a Dublin businessman over unpaid loans, the Irish Times reported. The case arises from two loan facilities – the first, for a maximum £5.75 million, was made available by Anglo in October 2008 to Mr Healy, while the second, for €10.8 million, was made available in May 2009. The 2008 facility was to enable Mr Healy to fund an equity investment in Calyx Holdings Ltd (CHL), a company set up to acquire Clayfox Gilttop Ltd.

Senior European officials laid the groundwork for a bailout of Ireland that could reach €100 billion ($136 billion), saying experts would travel this week to Dublin to examine the country's finances amid alarm about the dire straits of the Irish banking system, The Wall Street Journal reported. Several euro-zone countries urged Ireland to adopt an aid package, according to people familiar with the matter, and some pressed for the package to include direct loans from the U.K. alongside assistance from Europe and the International Monetary Fund.

A decision in proceedings taken by a US bankruptcy trustee involving Anglo Irish Bank chief executive David Drumm was adjourned yesterday to allow the judge time to consider matters, the Irish Times reported. Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne reserved her decision on an application on behalf of Massachusetts trustee Kathleen Dwyer for an “order in aid” from the High Court to assist her in administering Mr Drumm’s bankruptcy. The judge said she needed time to consider the case. Mr Drumm filed for bankruptcy in Massachusetts on October 14th.

A receiver has been appointed over McNamara Construction, after Nama rejected the business plan put forward by the group, InsolvencyJournal.ie reported. The firm is owned by Bernard McNamara, who took over from his father Michael in the 1940s. One of the company’s big breaks was the construction of RTÉ’s sports and social club on its Donnybrook campus. Other state contracts followed. It soon became one of the biggest construction companies in the state.

An investor in the private equity consortium bidding for EBS building society – one of two final bidders for the lender – says that debt forgiveness for its borrowers would only be considered in limited cases or not at all, The Irish Times reported. Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross, who is part of the consortium led by Dublin-based Cardinal Capital Group, said he was still optimistic about EBS and Ireland, despite fears of a further wave of mortgage losses and the debt crisis.

Europe's debt crisis entered a critical new phase as Ireland resisted pressure from the European Central Bank and national governments to seek a bailout amid growing concern that the currency bloc could unravel, The Wall Street Journal reported. Ireland fiercely denied that it was in bailout talks, and European officials publicly insisted Dublin was under no pressure to seek help.

There may have been good news for home building group McInerney this week, when Ireland’s High Court extended its period of examinership protection, but elsewhere, there was a further sign of the difficulties in the construction industry with the release of Ulster Bank’s Purchasing Managers’ index (PMI) for October, InsolvencyJournal.ie reported. The PMI shows an increase in the rate of decline in construction activity, for the second month running, to 42.3 in October, from 44.5 in September. A reading below 50 indicates a reduction in activity.

Ireland warned on Thursday that a surge in its borrowing costs to record highs had become "very serious" and the EU said it was ready to act should the humbled former "Celtic Tiger" require a rescue from its euro partners, Reuters reported. European officials said they were monitoring developments in Ireland closely but denied for a second day running that Dublin was seeking financial aid, in an ominous echo of the rhetoric that preceded an EU/IMF bailout of Greece six months ago.

Nama and the banks have taken effective control of Michael McNamara and Company, one of the biggest building and civil engineering groups in the Republic, after the State's assets agency rejected the group’s business plan, The Irish Times reported. It is understood that the group voluntarily asked Dublin accountants and corporate insolvency specialist, Farrell Grant Sparks, to take over as receiver late last night.