LONDON/DUBLIN Jan 28 (Reuters) – Ireland’s banking recovery
could yet be derailed by its international creditors.

The European Central Bank’s refusal so far to give Dublin
any relief on the 30-billion euro cost of bailing out Anglo
Irish Bank is a major setback for government ambitions to exit
an EU-IMF bailout this year and give the euro zone its first
post-crisis success story.

DUBLIN, Jan 27 (Reuters) – Ireland will make changes to its
proposal to ease the state’s bank debt burden, government
ministers said on Sunday, adding that failure to reach a deal
with the European Central Bank could have catastrophic
consequences.

The ECB rejected Ireland’s preferred solution over how to
reschedule part of its state-owned bank debt, Reuters reported
exclusively on Saturday, citing EU sources familiar with the
discussions.

DUBLIN, Jan 27 (Reuters) – Ireland will make changes to its
proposal to ease the state’s bank debt burden, government
ministers said on Sunday, adding that failure to reach a deal
with the European Central Bank could have catastrophic
consequences.

The ECB rejected Ireland’s preferred solution over how to
reschedule part of its state-owned bank debt, Reuters reported
exclusively on Saturday, citing EU sources familiar with the
discussions.

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ireland’s Jonathan Sexton will join French side Racing Metro next season after the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) said on Friday the flyhalf would not be renewing his contract with European champions Leinster.

Sexton, who won three Heineken Cups in four seasons with Leinster and has become one of Ireland’s most influential players, has been offered a two-year contract with the Paris-based side, a source close to the deal told Reuters.

DUBLIN, Jan 25 (Reuters) – Ireland’s Jonathan Sexton will join French side Racing Metro next season after the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) said on Friday the flyhalf would not be renewing his contract with European champions Leinster.

Sexton, who won three Heineken Cups in four seasons with Leinster and has become one of Ireland’s most influential players, has been offered a two-year contract with the Paris-based side, a source close to the deal told Reuters.

BELFAST (Reuters) – The Bank of England’s inflation-targeting remit needs to be fine-tuned but should not undergo fundamental change, central bank governor Mervyn King said in a speech on Tuesday.

He also said that the central bank was ready to restart bond purchases or cut interest rates if needed to boost the economy, but that Britain needed more fundamental reforms if it was to exceed the “gentle recovery” he expects for 2013.

BELFAST, Jan 22 (Reuters) – The Bank of England’s
inflation-targeting remit needs to be fine-tuned but should not
undergo fundamental change, central bank governor Mervyn King
said in a wide-ranging speech on Tuesday.

King also said the central bank was ready to restart bond
purchases or cut interest rates if needed to boost the economy,
but that Britain needed more fundamental reforms if it was to
exceed the “gentle recovery” which he expects for 2013.

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Brian O’Driscoll’s decade of leading Ireland ended on Thursday after Jamie Heaslip was named as skipper for this year’s Six Nations, drawing the national team’s longest captaincy to a close.

No.8 Heaslip led Ireland in November in his Leinster team mate’s absence through injury and although O’Driscoll has returned to the squad, coach Declan Kidney said the time was right for a change.

DUBLIN, Jan 17 (Reuters) – Brian O’Driscoll’s decade of leading Ireland ended on Thursday after Jamie Heaslip was named as skipper for this year’s Six Nations, drawing the national team’s longest captaincy to a close.

No. 8 Heaslip led Ireland in November in his Leinster team mate’s absence through injury and although O’Driscoll has returned to the squad, coach Declan Kidney said the time was right for a change.

DUBLIN, Jan 16 (Reuters) – Ireland is working on a “novel”
solution to reach a deal with the European Central Bank on
rescheduling part of its bank debt, which will not take
policymakers too far out of their comfort zone, its central bank
governor said.

Dublin has been negotiating with the ECB for over a year to
ease the tough repayment terms on promissory notes, or IOUs,
that it pumped mainly into the failed Anglo Irish Bank, and
wants a deal agreed before the next payment falls due in March.