DUBLIN, Dec 2 (Reuters) – Ireland’s government has agreed on
its latest austerity budget to be delivered on Wednesday, and
will keep election promises on maintaining social welfare and
income tax rates, a senior minister said on Sunday.

Finance minister Michael Noonan will detail 3.5 billion
euros ($4.5 billion) of tax hikes and spending cuts in the
country’s sixth and toughest austerity budget since late 2008 as
it attempts to exit an EU/IMF bailout next year.

DUBLIN, Nov 29 (Reuters) – Ireland will scour the euro
zone’s new Greek aid deal for anything that would help Dublin’s
efforts to pull free from its own EU/IMF bailout as scheduled
next year, Finance Minister Michael Noonan said on Thursday.

Euro zone finance ministers and the International Monetary
Fund reached agreement this week to reduce Greece’s debt by more
than 40 billion euros, through measures that included extending
the maturity of Athens’ official loans.

DUBLIN, Nov 24 (Reuters) – Craig Gilroy is not yet a first team pick at Ulster but the young winger gave Ireland a glimpse of an exciting future on Saturday.

Without a win in five games, the Irish had to beat Argentina to ensure they are seeded when the 2015 World Cup draw is made on Dec. 3 and so avoid a potentially tough group with champions New Zealand and hosts England.

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ireland scored seven tries in a 46-24 demolition of Argentina on Saturday to ensure they will be seeded when the draw is made for the next rugby World Cup, and leave the South Americans waiting to find out if they will join them.

Ireland had to win the match, billed as the most important either side would likely play this side of the 2015 tournament, to book a place in the second tier of seeds for the December 3 draw, and four tries in a blistering first half got them on their way.

DUBLIN, Nov 24 (Reuters) – Ireland scored seven tries in a 46-24 demolition of Argentina on Saturday to ensure they will be seeded when the draw is made for the next rugby World Cup and leave the South Americans waiting to find out if they will join them.

Ireland had to win the match, billed as the most important one either side would likely play this side of the 2015 tournament, to book a place in the second tier of seeds for the Dec. 3 draw and four tries in a blistering first half got them on their way.

DUBLIN, Nov 16 (Reuters) – Ireland has turned the tale of
its most reviled bank into an “Avenue Q”-style musical comedy
because – as the show’s tagline goes – “it only takes a few
muppets to screw an entire country.”

Featuring puppets of Irish Prime Ministers past and present
and even one of German Chancellor Angel Merkel, “Anglo: The
Musical” opened in Dublin this week, charting the rise and fall
of the bank that has come to personify Ireland’s boom and bust.

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ireland said it will not add new austerity measures despite cutting its growth forecasts for the next three years on Wednesday as Fitch rewarded it for continued fiscal and funding progress by raising its outlook.

Bailed out Ireland has made spending cuts and tax hikes worth 25 billion euros ($31 billion) since 2008 – equivalent to 15 percent of annual output – and believes the 8.6 billion program already planned for 2013 to 2015 will be enough to get it back on track.

DUBLIN, Nov 14 (Reuters) – Ireland said it will not add new
austerity measures despite cutting its growth forecasts for the
next three years on Wednesday amid a worsening global outlook
that is stifling its recovery.

Bailed out Ireland has made spending cuts and tax hikes
worth 25 billion euros ($31 billion) since 2008 – equivalent to
15 percent of annual output – and believes the 8.6 billion
program already planned for 2013 to 2015 will be enough to get
it back on track.

DUBLIN/LONDON (Reuters) – Bank of Ireland (BKIR.I: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) on Tuesday raised 1 billion euros ($1.27 billion) in its most significant bond issue in over three years, a move the country’s finance minister described as a milestone for Ireland’s battered banking sector.

Hammered by the bursting of a gigantic property bubble, Ireland and its banks were locked out of capital markets two years ago, forcing the state into an international bailout and lenders to turn to the European Central Bank (ECB) for funding.

DUBLIN, Nov 13 (Reuters) – Bank of Ireland said it
was starting to benefit from lower funding costs and a steadier
economy as the bailed-out lender launched its most significant
bond issue in over three years.

Hammered by the bursting of a gigantic property bubble,
Ireland and its banks were locked out of capital markets two
years ago, forcing the state into an international bailout and
lenders to turn to the European Central Bank (ECB) for funding.