DUBLIN, July 12 (Reuters) – Ireland’s economy shrank by 1.1
percent in the first quarter of the year but robust growth in
exports, which weathered the slowdown in the global economy,
gave the government hope of staying on top of its bailout
targets.

Growth for 2011 was revised sharply upwards to 1.4 percent
from a provisional 0.7 percent, the Central Statistics Office
(CSO) confirmed on Thursday after inadvertently releasing the
data for a short period a day ahead of schedule.

DUBLIN/ATHENS (Reuters) – Ireland has become the poster boy of international lenders, held up as a model of European austerity to problem child Greece.

But when the two countries sought financial help from the European Union and International Monetary Fund within six months of each other in 2010, they were starting from different points.

DUBLIN/ATHENS (Reuters) – Ireland has become the poster boy of international lenders, held up as a model of European austerity to problem child Greece.

But when the two countries sought financial help from the European Union and International Monetary Fund within six months of each other in 2010, they were starting from different points.

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Women will box in the Olympics for the first time in London, bringing an end to the last all-male sport at the summer Games and potentially usher in a series of changes that may permit professionals to fight in Rio in four years time.

Women, rejected in the past because of a limited global appeal that saw them only sanctioned to box in Britain 15 years ago, will compete for three gold medals, squeezing the men into 10 weight categories from the 11 fought in Beijing.

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Women will box in the Olympics for the first time in London, bringing an end to the last all-male sport at the summer Games and potentially usher in a series of changes that may permit professionals to fight in Rio in four years time.

Women, rejected in the past because of a limited global appeal that saw them only sanctioned to box in Britain 15 years ago, will compete for three gold medals, squeezing the men into 10 weight categories from the 11 fought in Beijing.

DUBLIN, July 10 (Reuters) – Women will box in the Olympics
for the first time in London, bringing an end to the last
all-male sport at the summer Games and potentially usher in a
series of changes that may permit professionals to fight in Rio
in four years time.

Women, rejected in the past because of a limited global
appeal that saw them only sanctioned to box in Britain 15 years
ago, will compete for three gold medals, squeezing the men into
10 weight categories from the 11 fought in Beijing.

MADRID/DUBLIN (Reuters) – Spain’s 10-year borrowing costs rose on Thursday despite the euro zone’s latest plan to help its troubled economies, while Ireland returned to markets for the first time since its bailout and paid less for short-term funds than Madrid.

International appetite for debt auctions held by the two countries – both victims of banking crises caused by a property market crash – varied widely, although Dublin’s first commercial borrowing in almost two years was much more modest in size than Madrid’s.

DUBLIN, July 5 (Reuters) – Ireland returned to short-term
debt markets on Thursday for the first time since before its
EU/IMF bailout in November 2010, paying less for three-month
paper than Spain which has avoided going to international
lenders for a full sovereign rescue.

In a tentative first step following a near two-year hiatus,
Ireland sold 500 million euros of treasury bills at an average
yield of 1.8 percent.

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ireland has for months been telling its European partners that it can, with their help, deliver a rare good news story to the beleaguered continent, but it can’t change the narrative without better newsflow in the rest of the euro zone.

Last week, it appeared help might be on its way, when leaders at a European Union summit agreed to look at improving Ireland’s bank bailout, which the government, one of five in the 17-member euro zone that have received or asked for emergency EU cash, has been campaigning for this last year.

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ireland has for months been telling its European partners that it can, with their help, deliver a rare good news story to the beleaguered continent, but it can’t change the narrative without better newsflow in the rest of the euro zone.

Last week, it appeared help might be on its way, when leaders at a European Union summit agreed to look at improving Ireland’s bank bailout, which the government, one of five in the 17-member euro zone that have received or asked for emergency EU cash, has been campaigning for this last year.