DUBLIN, Sept 16 (Reuters) – Europe’s largest budget airline
Ryanair criticised on Friday the management of rival Aer
Lingus , in which it holds a 30 percent stake, over its
handling of a huge pension deficit widely seen as an impediment
to attracting a strategic investor.

Dublin-based Ryanair called on Aer Lingus, which has said it
fears industrial unrest over the pension deficit, to refrain
from making payments to the pension scheme without shareholder
approval.

DUBLIN (Reuters) – International calls on Ireland to ramp up austerity and privatisation plans are damaging the ruling party’s centre-left coalition partner, which was elected on a pledge to protect working people from Europe’s fiscal hawks.

The International Monetary Fund last week urged Ireland to more than double the scope of its privatisation while a senior official from the Frankfurt-based European Central Bank called on the government to cut the wages of the heavily unionised state sector.

DUBLIN (Reuters) – International calls on Ireland to ramp up austerity and privatisation plans are damaging the ruling party’s centre-left coalition partner, which was elected on a pledge to protect working people from Europe’s fiscal hawks.

The International Monetary Fund last week urged Ireland to more than double the scope of its privatisation while a senior official from the Frankfurt-based European Central Bank called on the government to cut the wages of the heavily unionised state sector.

DUBLIN, Sept 14 (Reuters) – Ireland has agreed to sell a
minority stake in state electricity supplier ESB, the first
major privatisation under an EU/IMF bailout programme, the
energy minister said on Wednesday.

“The sale of a minority stake in ESB as an integrated unit
has been agreed by government,” energy minister Pat Rabbitte
told parliament.

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ireland’s deputy prime minister rejected a call from the ECB’s departing chief economist Juergen Stark to ramp up its austerity programme and cut public sector pay again, describing it as “not helpful” in comments published on Tuesday.

Stark made the call in an interview hours before his shock resignation on Friday, increasing pressure on the government to go beyond the 3.6 billion euros (3.1 billion pounds) in austerity measures planned for next year and putting its pledge to protect public sector wages under scrutiny.

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ireland is planning a phased return to the sovereign bond markets with a possible syndicated offer for longer-dated debt in 2013 but the fallout from Greece’s debt crisis could scupper its strategy, the country’s debt chief said on Friday.

Ireland’s success in so far meeting its targets under an 85 billion euros (73.36 billion pound) EU-IMF bailout and an easing in the cost of that package have driven Irish bond yields back into single figures and helped distinguish Dublin from its fellow euro zone strugglers; Greece and Portugal.

DUBLIN, Sept 9 (Reuters) – Ireland is planning a phased
return to the sovereign bond markets with a possible syndicated
offer for longer-dated debt in 2013 but the fallout from
Greece’s debt crisis could scupper its strategy, the country’s
debt chief said on Friday.

Ireland’s success in so far meeting its targets under an 85
billion euros EU-IMF bailout and an easing in the cost of that
package have driven Irish bond yields back into single figures
and helped distinguish Dublin from its fellow euro zone
strugglers; Greece and Portugal.

DUBLIN, Sept 8 (Reuters) – Ireland’s slim chances of being
allowed to impose losses on unsecured senior bonds at Anglo
Irish Bank receded further on Thursday as the
European Central reiterated its opposition and the bank’s CEO
said it appeared unlikely.

The government has pledged to try to impose a haircut on
some of 3.5 billion euros in senior bonds at Anglo and fellow
failed lender Irish Nationwide building society in a bid to cut
the taxpayers losses.

DUBLIN, Sept 7 (Reuters) – Ireland is considering the sale
of its 25 percent stake in airline Aer Lingus which it
no longer considers a strategic asset, the transport minister
said on Wednesday.

The government has committed to raising around 2 billion
euros ($2.8 billion) from sales of state assets to reduce high
public debt, but it had indicated that it saw its stake in Aer
Lingus as a lever to maintain competition in the sector.

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ireland’s prospects for fully emerging from one of the industrialized world’s worst recessions darkened on Wednesday after data on unemployment, credit flows and arrears pointed to an even gloomier outlook for domestic demand.

Ireland is relying on its export sector to break a three-year cycle of shrinking economic output this year. But it needs consumers to start spending again if it is to make inroads into its huge debt pile and emerge from an EU-IMF bailout by the end of 2013.