DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ireland beat a dogged Bosnia side 1-0 on Saturday in their last home game before the European Championship, Shane Long heading a late winner and promising youngster James McClean pushing his claims for a place in the starting line-up.

Long scored the winner in the 78th minute after being picked out by winger Aiden McGeady and the home side nearly doubled the lead with a succession of shots by Jon Walters in the closing minutes.

“I think we deserved to win because the possession (we had in) the first and also the second half,” coach Giovanni Trapattoni told reporters.

“I think we could also have scored two. (We had) three or four good opportunities.”

Bosnia, who missed out on qualification for Euro 2012 following a playoff defeat by Portugal, failed to capitalise on a string of chances against a weakened Irish defence missing defender John O’Shea and veteran goalkeeper Shay Given.

Ireland, who qualified for their first major tournament in a decade by beating Estonia, produced a fine attacking display that belied their reputation as a very defensive team.

They face world and European champions Spain next month in a tough Group C in Ukraine and Poland that also includes Italy and Croatia. They play Hungary on June 4 in their final friendly before the tournament.

DUBLIN, May 26 (Reuters) – Ireland beat a dogged Bosnia side 1-0 on Saturday in their last home game before the European Championship, Shane Long heading a late winner and promising youngster James McClean pushing his claims for a place in the starting line-up.

Long scored the winner in the 78th minute after being picked out by winger Aiden McGeady and the home side nearly doubled the lead with a succession of shots by Jon Walters in the closing minutes.

“I think we deserved to win because the possession (we had in) the first and also the second half,” coach Giovanni Trapattoni told reporters.

“I think we could also have scored two. (We had) three or four good opportunities.”

Bosnia, who missed out on qualification for Euro 2012 following a playoff defeat by Portugal, failed to capitalise on a string of chances against a weakened Irish defence missing defender John O’Shea and veteran goalkeeper Shay Given.

Ireland, who qualified for their first major tournament in a decade by beating Estonia, produced a fine attacking display that belied their reputation as a very defensive team.

They face world and European champions Spain next month in a tough Group C in Ukraine and Poland that also includes Italy and Croatia. They play Hungary on June 4 in their final friendly before the tournament.

DUBLIN, May 25 (Reuters) – The number of problem mortgages in Ireland grew 8 percent in the first three months of the year, increasing pressure on banks and highlighting the government’s problems in trying to revive the economy after a property crash and years of austerity.

More than one in seven Irish home loans are not being fully repaid and repayment is getting more difficult as unemployment remains stubbornly high and house prices keep falling, figures from the Central Bank showed on Friday.

A total of 116,288 mortgages were either in arrears or had been or had been restructured, up 8 percent compared with the start of the year.

“Mortgage debt is the biggest problem that the Irish economy will face over the next couple of years and there is no sign this is getting any better,” said Dermot O’Leary, Chief Economist at Goodbody Stockbrokers.

While the banks have booked huge losses on their bloated commercial property books, relatively few residential loans have been written off. The central bank, which has been working with banks on schemes to ease pressure on struggling mortgage holders, has described the arrears as one of the biggest challenges facing the country.

Stress tests carried out as part of Ireland’s EU-IMF bailout have prompted banks to bulk up their balance sheets to deal with rising arrears, based on an assumption that 6.7 percent of their combined mortgage book would never be paid back.

But a report from the European Commission warned last year that losses could be higher than anticipated.

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Sinn Fein hopes to ride a wave of anger against austerity measures to achieve its ambition of ruling Ireland, its leader Gerry Adams said on Friday, as misgivings about its role in the Northern Ireland conflict fade.

The political wing of the now-defunct Irish Republican Army has seen its support surge since Ireland’s Celtic Tiger economy began to collapse in 2008 and is now the second most popular party in the country, according to opinion polls.

With the three largest parties in parliament all backing a program of austerity under an IMF-EU bailout, Sinn Fein, until recently viewed as political pariahs in the Republic of Ireland, are sweeping up as the chief outlet for dissent.

“Our ambition is to be the main party on the island,” Adams told Reuters in an interview outside Ireland’s parliament where he took a seat for the first time last year after calling time on his political career north of the border.

“The party is growing, we are getting very, very good attendances at public meetings,” he said. “There is a process of politicization across the state and increasing numbers are looking to us to provide leadership.”

Europe’s economic and debt crisis has boosted populist parties in many countries, with groups from the far right and hard left tapping anger at the failure of politicians to resolve the situation.

In Ireland, Sinn Fein’s mixture of left-leaning populism and nationalism is gaining support beyond its traditional working class base. Its score of 21 percent in a recent Irish Times poll last month was its largest yet.

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ryanair (RYA.I: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Europe’s biggest budget airline, warned high fuel costs and a worsening economic outlook in Europe meant profit would slip by up to 20 percent in the coming year, the first fall in four years.

The Dublin-based airline, famous for its no-frills service, posted a record annual profit on higher fares for the year to March, but warned its run of growth of at least 25 percent profit every year since 2009 was likely to come to an end.

“Recession, austerity, currency concerns and lower fares at new and growing bases … will make it difficult to repeat this year’s record results,” said Chief Executive Michael O’Leary.

“If we were guiding a blue sky scenario with rising fares into next winter, we would be nuts,” he said.

The airline confirmed it would pay out 483 million euros ($614.5 million) to shareholders in just its second dividend payout since floating in 1997. Its share price was down 4.32 percent at 4:48 a.m. EDT (0848 GMT) compared to a flat Irish market .ISEQ.

Net profit reached 503 million euros for the year to March, up 25 percent on the previous year, compared with a forecast of 491 million by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

But it warned worsening economic conditions in Europe and stubbornly high fuel costs would cut its profit to between 400 million and 440 million euros in 2013, making it the first year since 2009 that profit has fallen.

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ryanair, Europe’s biggest budget airline, warned high fuel costs and a worsening economic outlook in Europe meant profit would slip by up to 20 percent in the coming year, the first fall in four years.

The Dublin-based airline, famous for its no-frills service, posted a record annual profit on higher fares for the year to March, but warned its run of growth of at least 25 percent profit every year since 2009 was likely to come to an end.

“Recession, austerity, currency concerns and lower fares at new and growing bases … will make it difficult to repeat this year’s record results,” said Chief Executive Michael O’Leary.

“If we were guiding a blue sky scenario with rising fares into next winter, we would be nuts,” he said.

The airline confirmed it would pay out 483 million euros to shareholders in just its second dividend payout since floating in 1997. Its share price was down 4.32 percent at 0848 GMT compared to a flat Irish market .ISEQ.

Net profit reached 503 million euros for the year to March, up 25 percent on the previous year, compared with a forecast of 491 million by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

But it warned worsening economic conditions in Europe and stubbornly high fuel costs would cut its profit to between 400 million and 440 million euros in 2013, making it the first year since 2009 that profit has fallen.

DUBLIN, May 21 (Reuters) – Ryanair, Europe’s biggest budget airline, warned surging fuel costs and a worsening economic outlook meant profit would slip by up to 20 percent in the coming year, the first fall in four years.

The Dublin-based airline, which posted a record annual profit on Monday and has posted profit growth of at least 25 percent every year since 2009, confirmed it would pay out 483 million euros ($614.5 million) to shareholders in just its second dividend payout since floating in 1997.

Net profit reached 503 million euros for the year to March, up 25 percent on the previous year, compared with a forecast of 491 million by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

But it warned worsening economic conditions in Europe and stubbornly high fuel costs would cut its profit to between 400 million and 440 million euros in 2013, making it the first year since 2009 that profit has fallen.

“Recession, austerity, currency concerns and lower fares at new and growing bases … will make it difficult to repeat this year’s record results,” Chief Executive Michael O’Leary said in a statement.

“Any increase in fares will only partially offset higher fuel costs.”

The airline, which has a lower cost base than many of its competitors, raised fares 16 percent over the year to help offset a fuel bill that was 30 percent higher.

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Sinn Fein hopes to ride a wave of anger against austerity measures to achieve its ambition of ruling Ireland, its leader Gerry Adams said on Friday, as misgivings about its role in the Northern Ireland conflict fade.

The political wing of the now-defunct Irish Republican Army has seen its support surge since Ireland’s Celtic Tiger economy began to collapse in 2008 and is now the second most popular party in the country, according to opinion polls.

With the three largest parties in parliament all backing a programme of austerity under an IMF-EU bailout, Sinn Fein, until recently viewed as political pariahs in the Republic of Ireland, are sweeping up as the chief outlet for dissent.

“Our ambition is to be the main party on the island,” Adams told Reuters in an interview outside Ireland’s parliament where he took a seat for the first time last year after calling time on his political career north of the border.

“The party is growing, we are getting very, very good attendances at public meetings,” he said. “There is a process of politicization across the state and increasing numbers are looking to us to provide leadership.”

Europe’s economic and debt crisis has boosted populist parties in many countries, with groups from the far right and hard left tapping anger at the failure of politicians to resolve the situation.

In Ireland, Sinn Fein’s mixture of left-leaning populism and nationalism is gaining support beyond its traditional working class base. Its score of 21 percent in a recent Irish Times poll last month was its largest yet.

DUBLIN, May 4 (Reuters) – Irish airline Aer Lingus offered its first dividend in more than five years as a public company on Friday following a return to profit, disappointing some shareholders who had hoped for a bigger payout.

Aer Lingus, which has not made any form of distribution to shareholders since its stock market listing in 2006, said on Friday it intends to declare an ordinary dividend of 3 cents per share, to be paid in July.

This will make a total payout of approximately 15.9 million euros ($21 million) this year.

However the airline, in which Abu Dahabi’s Etihad Airways bought a small stake this week, backed away from boosting the payout with a special dividend like those promised by rivals Ryanair and easyJet.

The chief financial officer of Ryanair, which is the largest shareholder in Aer Lingus, welcomed the dividend, but described the payout as “paltry,” saying 50 million euros would be more appropriate considering its 1 billion euro gross cash pile.

“If it was Christmas I’d be calling you Scrooge,” said Ryanair’s Howard Millar, speaking at Aer Lingus’ annual general meeting on Friday.

British low-cost airline easyJet said in November it would make its first dividend a bumper payout, paying a special dividend of 34.9 pence on top of an ordinary dividend of 10.5 pence, making a total payout of 195 million pounds.

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ireland’s deputy prime minister said on Thursday he thought the head of the Irish Catholic Church should resign after a TV documentary reported the cleric had failed to warn parents their children were being sexually abused by a priest in 1975.

A BBC documentary broadcast on Tuesday said that Cardinal Sean Brady was given the names and addresses of children being abused by notorious pedophile Brendan Smyth during a Church investigation but had failed to act to ensure their safety.

“It is my own personal view that anybody who did not deal with the scale of the abuse that we have seen in this case should not hold a position of authority,” Deputy Prime Minister Eamon Gilmore told parliament, when asked about Brady’s response to the BBC program.

Gilmore described the revelations as “another horrific episode of failure by senior members of the Catholic Church to protect children”, adding his voice to calls by groups representing victims of abuse for Brady to stand down.

Two of the victims whose identities were made known to Brady at the time were subjected to abuse long after the Church inquiry was completed and Smyth continued to abuse other young victims for more than 15 years afterwards.

The sister and four cousins of one of the victims were also abused for several years after the investigation.

However, Brady said the documentary was seriously misleading, saying it had exaggerated his role in the inquiry and that he did not see it as a resigning matter.