• Lucey on Anglo Loss Sharing Brian Lucey makes the case for senior bond holders to bear a share of the Anglo losses post-September.   You can access his Irish Times opinion piece here. ..more

• Lex on Nama The FT’s Lex column gives its pithy assessment of Nama. A flavour: Nama is an odd creature: part debt collection agency, part property developer. As well as toxic loans, it may end up with a portfolio of property which was collateral for the banks? lending binge. It was meant to fix the broken banks, convince taxpayers they [...]..more

• IMF: The Fiscal Situation in Advanced Economies The IMF has released three major studies on the fiscal situation in advanced economies. The summary is here, while the papers are available at: Long-Term Trends in Public Finances in the G-7 Economies Default in Today’s Advanced Economies: Unnecessary, Undesirable, and Unlikely Fiscal Space ..more

• Mortgage Arrears: June 2010 The apparently newly branded Central Bank of Ireland has released the latest summary data on mortgage arrears here.   A total of 36,438 mortgage accounts were in arrears over 90 days in June 2010, up from 32,321 in March. This meant that 4.6 percent of mortgages were in arrears, up from 4.1 percent in March and [...]..more

• Negative Net Lending to Firms and Households Last month, Philip noted the new Central Bank release on Money and Banking. Philip pointed out the new presentation of the data in a more useful format, with figures presented for what is essentially an IFSC and non-IFSC breakdown.  I had meant at the time to chip in to note some other useful improvements but [...]..more

• Our cruellest month On this week, seven years ago, I sat down for the first time at a desk in an office in Leinster House, to begin a new journalistic journey – that of a political correspondent. Before I started, I thought the middle of August would be a good time to start. It was quiet. I’d have a [...]..more

• Too Busy to Blog Too busy to blog about Ivor Callely: if you want to read what Mary Minihan and myself have been writing in the paper about him, click here ..more

• Haughey: ?a gentleman to his fingertips? Whenever I interview Government Ministers, or indeed any politicians, I like to ask them which politicians ? past and present ? they admire. It’s not a tough question, but the answer can often provide some interesting insights. Some of them find it easier to sing the praises of politicians who are no longer on the scene [...]..more

• Good News for a Change Some good economic news for a change: click here ..more

• Poetry and Politics Always fascinated by the intersection between art and politics. For more, click   here ..more

• Double Whammy Price Shock: Sept electricity price review on top of Oct levy hike Image by Michael Foley Photography via Flickr Fine Gael Communications & Energy Spokesperson, Leo Varadkar TD, today (Monday) warned that electricity bills face a double whammy as a separate price review is due in September on top of the ?156 million levy due to be imposed in October to subsidise peat and renewable energy generators.   “People are [...]..more

• Electricity price hike in store as ?156m levy hits must be halted by Minister Ryan Image via Wikipedia Shock for consumers and business. Low paid and elderly will be hit hard.   Fine Gael Communications & Energy Spokesperson, Leo Varadkar TD, today (Sunday) said a hike in electricity prices in October will horrify consumers and businesses and hit the low paid and the elderly particularly hard.  Deputy Varadkar has called on Minister Ryan [...]..more

• Return air ticket to Glenties cost me ?55 yet Min. Dempsey spends ?7,890 an hour on Govt. Jet Image via Wikipedia It?s simple: the Minister and his colleagues are out of touch   It speaks volumes for the disdain with which the Government views the taxpayer that a Minister sees fit to splurge thousands of Euro of public money by using both the Government Jet and his Ministerial vehicle to attend the McGill Summer school, according [...]..more

• Varadkar welcomes reversal of cuts imposed on Daughters of Charity services for the intellectually disabled in Dublin Fine Gael TD for Dublin West, Leo Varadkar has welcomed an agreement between the HSE and the Daughters of Charity Service (DOCS) which will allow for the reinstatement of most of the respite and other services for the intellectually disabled that were closed last month.  This follows a vigorous campaign against the cuts led by [...]..more

• Varadkar challenges Lenihan to say whether Metro West is going ahead Image via Wikipedia Fine Gael TD for Dublin West, Leo Varadkar has called on the Minister for Finance to ?come clean? on METRO WEST and to say whether or not it will be built and when.  Metro West will run through the western suburbs of Dublin linking Blanchardtown, Liffey Valley and Tallaght.  It will interchange with [...]..more