Ireland

The number of people in employment fell by 8.1 per cent in 2009, according to new figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO), bringing the unemployment rate to 13.1 per cent for the last quarter of last year, The Irish Times reported. The latest quarterly national household survey shows there were 1,887,700 persons in employment during the fourth quarter, an annual decrease of 166,900. This compares with an annual decrease in employment of 8.8 per cent in the third quarter and 3.9 per cent in the year to the fourth quarter of 2008.

Debt-laden Ireland is winning applause from financial markets for quickly taking the kind of harsh economic medicine that countries around the world are putting off, The Wall Street Journal reported. Late last year, Ireland looked a lot like Greece. The financial crisis coincided with a housing bust that left Ireland's banks in terrible shape, requiring a government rescue. Ireland's fiscal deficit rose to almost 12% of gross domestic product—a shade under Greece's 12.7%.

All 1,200 Aer Lingus cabin crew in the Republic of Ireland are to be sent notices of termination by the company later this month and offered new contracts on revised terms and conditions involving lower salary scales and changed work practices, The Irish Times reported. Later in the year, following the implementation of new work practices designed to reduce its requirement for the current staffing levels, the company will slim down its cabin crew workforce by about 230. The personnel concerned are to be let go on a compulsory basis and offered statutory redundancy terms.

France has proven surprisingly stable in the European economic storm. As Greece struggles to avoid default or bailout, Spain and Portugal watch anxiously, Sweden falls back into recession, Germany argues about historically high budget deficits and Britain grapples with deficits and debt of Hellenic proportions, France looks solid and even wise to many, The New York Times reported.

Close to 4 per cent of private residential mortgage accounts had been in arrears for more than 90 days at the end of 2009, according to new figures published by the Financial Regulator, The Irish Times reported. The latest data also shows that house repossessions rose by 20 per cent from the third to the fourth quarter of last year. Mortgage accounts in arrears for more than 90 days rose by 8.9 per cent from the end of September last while the percentage of accounts in arrears for more than 180 days increased by 8 per cent.

Hughes Hughes, the bookshop chain, went into receivership last night, putting more than 200 jobs at risk. Difficulties in negotiating lower rents and a collapse in passenger numbers at Dublin and Cork airports, where the majority of its business is generated, were blamed for the insolvency, The Irish Times reported. The company also cited the impact on bookselling of online sales through outlets like Amazon. Insolvency expert David Carson, of accountancy firm Deloitte, has been appointed by Ulster Bank as receiver.

Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan has made the case to the EU’s new economics commissioner, Olli Rehn, that Ireland is now at a “different stage” to Greece and other weak euro-zone members thanks to stringent austerity measures he has taken, The Irish Times reported. Before euro group finance ministers discussed moves to bail out Greece last night, Mr Lenihan said at a meeting with Mr Rehn that he was cautiously optimistic that Ireland was turning the corner with an expansion of the economy in prospect later this year.

Germany and France have suggested in recent days that rescuing Greece may be necessary to safeguard the euro zone, but both countries may have a more pressing motivation in the move—protecting their own banks, The Wall Street Journal reported. German and French banks carry a combined $119 billion in exposure to Greek borrowers alone and more than $900 billion to Greece and other countries on the euro-zone's vulnerable periphery: Portugal, Ireland and Spain. Together, France and Germany's banking sectors account for roughly half of all European banks' exposure to those countries.

Bank of Scotland Ireland is to cut 750 jobs from its Irish workforce of 1,600, with most of the redundancies due to take effect by July. The bank plans to close down the retail network which it operates under the Halifax brand. But it is expected that 850 jobs will remain in the corporate and commercial banking sections, Finfacts reported. The bank which operates 44 retail branches in Ireland under the Halifax brand, unexpectedly announced its decision to staff this afternoon.

Outgoing EU economics commissioner Joaquin Almunia has warned that Greece will have to adopt new austerity measures if it fails to meet targets set out in an already tough emergency budget, The Irish Times reported. Mr Almunia said the budget programme was achievable but prone to risk. By mid-March, Greece will have to submit its first special report to Brussels on the implementation of the measures, with a follow-up due in mid-May.