DUBLIN, May 2 (Reuters) – Ireland’s chances of Euro 2012
success will hinge on whether they can penetrate, and not simply
frustrate, their more illustrious group opponents.

Up against three of the world’s top 12 sides, Giovanni
Trapattoni’s resolute and hardworking charges, drawn mainly from
the English Premier League’s less-fashionable clubs, will be
favourites to prop up Group C.

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ireland’s government debt will peak a percentage point higher than previously expected next year after Dublin cut its growth forecasts for 2012 on Friday and also trimmed its outlook for next year.

Dublin’s success in cutting the largest budget deficit in Europe and shrinking its banks have distinguished it from fellow euro bailout recipients Greece and Portugal but it desperately needs consistent growth to eat into a debt pile now set to peak at 120.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) next year.

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ireland’s EU/IMF lenders will allow it to spend more proceeds from the sale of state assets on stimulating the economy, suggesting greater willingness within the euro zone to temper relentless austerity with some growth strategies.

Marking the halfway point of its three-year aid programme, Ireland passed the latest review of its bailout on Thursday and reached an agreement to carve out a viable bank from troubled lender permanent TSB as a basis for rebuilding the country’s banking system, which was devastated by a property crash.

DUBLIN, April 26 (Reuters) – Irish Life & Permanent
has won government backing for a plan to allow its banking arm
remain as a standalone business following talks with the
country’s EU/IMF bailout lenders this week, a source close to
the process said.

Once lauded as the only Irish lender to avoid a state
bailout due to its lack of exposure to commercial property
developers, IL&P was effectively nationalised last year due to
its high proportion of costly “tracker” residential mortgages
and inability to access traditional wholesale funding.

DUBLIN, April 12 (Reuters) – Ireland said on Thursday it is
in talks with EU officials to keep 30 billion euros of
bank-related debt off its balance sheet while the European
Central Bank said it was ready to help Dublin work on proposals
to limit the damage from its bank bailout.

As a fragile economy is making it harder for Dublin to
contain its debt spiral, the government has been lobbying to
ease the burden of its bank-related debt, brought on by reckless
lending during a property boom.

DUBLIN, April 2 (Reuters) – Thousands of Irish protesters
sent a message to the government at the weekend that next
month’s referendum on Europe’s new fiscal treaty may not be as
easy as early opinion polls suggest.

The Irish have tolerated a longer austerity drive than most
Europeans but the protests over a 100-euro tax that nearly half
all homeowners have refused to pay signals patience may be
wearing thin.

DUBLIN, April 2 (Reuters) – Ireland has won some breathing
space with a canny move to avoid a hefty repayment on IOUs
issued to prop up two banks and will now try to charm its richer
European peers into a broader deal on easing its funding burden.

The euro zone country struck a deal on Thursday to avoid
immediate payment of 3.1 billion euros due on the IOUs, settling
the bill by issuing a 13-year bond instead of paying cash.

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Some 5,000 people marched through the Irish capital on Saturday protesting against a new 100-euro household tax the government is struggling to collect – one of the first signs of resistance to Dublin’s austerity drive.

Carrying anti-austerity placards, the crowd of trade unionists, opposition members of parliament and recession-weary homeowners from across the country marched to the national conference of senior coalition party Fine Gael, elected with a record majority just over a year ago.

DUBLIN, March 29 (Reuters) – Ireland will avoid a 3.1
billion euro payment to one of its failed banks, settling the
bill by issuing a 13-year bond, the country’s finance minister
said on Thursday ahead of broader talks on easing the country’s
financing burden.

Dublin has been campaigning for months to soften the terms
of its bank bailout, concentrating principally on replacing 30
billion euros of high-interest IOUs given mainly to the former
Anglo Irish Bank with another instrument that would lengthen
their maturity and cut their interest rate.

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Irish Bank Resolution Corp (IBRC), a vehicle winding down two of Ireland’s failed lenders, confirmed it is in talks with the government to take on the bad assets of other lenders in a potential final step to cleaning up the battered sector.

Ireland wants to complete a large-scale restructuring of its banks by shifting the burden of loss-making mortgages from some lenders, and the country’s EU/IMF lenders are preparing a technical paper on how do so.