Ireland’s PM Brian Cowen announced Saturday he was stepping down as head of his Fianna Fail party but would remain as the PM ahead of elections in March.
“Taking everything into account, and having discussed the matter with my family, I have decided on my own counsel to step down as uachtarain [president] of Fianna Fail and leader of Fianna Fail,” Cowen told reporters in Dublin.
The European Central Bank has expressed concerns that the Irish bail-out package could affect its ability to provide further support to eurozone members.
The bank said possible flaws in the Irish bail-out legislation could compromise its ability to provide collateral for future funding.
Paul Krugman wrote yesterday: These debts were incurred, not to pay for public programs, but by private wheeler-dealers seeking nothing but their own profit. Yet ordinary Irish citizens are now bearing the burden of those debts.***Punishing the …
The Irish have taken to the streets to show the strength of their feeling at the bailout package.
Tensions are running high amid fears that the Irish government under Prime Minister Brian Cowen has sold out.
The Irish government has insisted it will not raise the country’s low corporation tax rate in return for a European Union-led bail-out.
Deputy Prime Minister Mary Coughlan said the 12.5% rate – much lower than the EU average – was “non-negotiable”.
It’s not all Celtic gloom for the well-placed entrepreneur
AS IRELAND’S government bails out its banks yet again and wrestles with a budget deficit a third as big as its GDP, prompting a downgrade by Fitch, a credit-rating agency, on October 6th, many Irish businesses are struggling. Failure rates have exceeded 2009 levels for all but two months so far this year. Curiously, though, the financial crisis has made some firms more competitive than they were at the height of the boom.
The costs of running a business in Ireland have dropped steeply. Office rents have fallen by 50% and labour costs are 10% lower than in early 2008. The euro has weakened against most global currencies, favouring exports out of the euro zone. …
Ireland’s property hangover continues
ON SEPTEMBER 30th, the Irish government revealed the full extent of its financial-sector bail-out. Anglo Irish Bank and other lenders that made bad commercial-property bets are to be provided with fresh capital to the tune of 20% of GDP this year. As a result, Ireland’s budget deficit is forecast to rise to 32% of GDP and its gross government debt to 96% of GDP. These huge costs contrast sharply with those in other countries that have had to rescue their banks. Ireland’s financial sector is so large relative to national income that, if it is not propped up, it has the ability to “bring down the sovereign”, according to Brian Lenihan, the finance minister. But Ireland does have some breathing space: it doesn’t need to borrow from the bond markets until early next year as it has enough cash to cover immediate needs. The government will just have to hope that the public finances don’t deliver any more nasty surprises in the intervening period.
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The Irish Republic is to expel an Israeli diplomat over the use of fake passports in the killing of a Hamas official in Dubai. Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said an investigation had proved that eight Irish passports used in the operation were forgeries.
LifeBrandz has opened its second Mulligan’s Irish pub and restaurant at Resorts World Sentosa.
This follows the success of its first Mulligan’s outlet at The Cannery in Clarke Quay, says LifeBrandz in an SGX statement.
The pub and nightclub operator also announced it will open a beach-front bar in Pattaya, Thailand, next month, marking its first venture overseas.
Pope Benedict XVI has apologized to victims of child sex abuse by Catholic priests in Ireland.
In a pastoral letter to Irish Catholics, he acknowledged the sense of betrayal in the Church felt by victims and their families.
Irish police arrested seven Muslims for planning to kill a Swedish cartoonist who drew a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad with a dog’s body. In response, several Swedish papers reprinted the cartoons on Wednesday.
Saturday evening wrapped up an exciting weekend of Irish sports at the Dubai Duty Free Gulf Gaelic Games held at the 7even’s Stadium. Contact sports carry injury risk as Qatar Football Ladies Captain Nuala Owens found out during a spirited defence in front of her goal posts where her shoulder
The UAE will host the 4th Annual Gulf Gaelic Games this weekend, with Wild Geese (Irish Expats) arriving from the four corners of the world to watch and play hurling; the world’s fastest field game, and Gaelic football; from whose lineage American and Australian football hail. The games begin at
A bitter dispute between Northern Ireland’s power-sharing parties has threatened to disrupt the fragile peace agreement there. Northern Irish leaders resume talks Monday on transferring policing and justice powers.
Explosives were discovered at a house in Dublin after an airport security drill on the other side of Europe went horribly wrong. Around 90 grams of the powerful military explosive RDX was recovered, having been brought through the Irish capital’s airport unwittingly by a Slovak national.
A Catholic Bishop in Mel Gibson’’s ancestral Irish hometown has urged the actor to help restore a local cathedral.
Bishop Colm O”Reilly turned to the Oscar winner, whose mother hails from Ardagh in County Longford, Ireland, after the Longford cathedral was reduced to flames on Christmas Day.
“It would be nice for him to get involved, it [...]
Two more Irish Catholic bishops have resigned in response to a report which criticised how they handled allegations of abuse by clergy. Eamonn Walsh and Raymond Field issued a joint statement which was read out at midnight Mass.
The Irish Republic’s strict abortion law is being challenged in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. The legal action has been brought by three Irish women who say the effective ban on abortion in Ireland violates the European Convention on Human Rights.
Serbian officials have welcomed the “yes” vote in the Irish referendum on the EU Lisbon Treaty. They believe that the result paves the way for Serbia’s EU integration.
Officials are predicting a convincing win for the “Yes†campaign in the Republic of Ireland’s second referendum on the European Union’s Lisbon Treaty. Official results are not expected for a few hours but the Irish Foreign Minister says early results show the “yes†vote is running about 60 percent nationwide.
