Media articles from THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND

[Shotoflight]

Self assessment of property tax won’t be straightforward

http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/home-truths/2012/11/29/self-assessment-of-property-tax-wont-be-straightforward/

An estate agent told me yesterday that he sold a five bed house in a well regarded development in Dublin 9 for €170,000. Obviously the vendor wanted a quick sale because this is way below what the house is worth.....................

[Shotoflight]

Household lending falls despite surge in loan approvals

http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/household-lending-falls-despite-surge-in-loan-approvals-3311469.html

Lending for house purchases was down by €514m on an annual basis in October, while lending for consumption and other purposes decreased by 8.6pc over the same period.

The Central Bank said that October's developments were driven by a decline in loans for consumption and other purposes of €331m, while loans for house purchases decreased by €184m during the month.

Yesterday's figures showing a fall-off in property lending came despite banks saying there has been a surge in mortgage applications granted by them.

[Shotoflight]

Working mum's anger as lack of help leaves her in massive arrears

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/budget/comment-reaction/working-mums-anger-as-lack-of-help-leaves-her-in-massive-arrears-3317100.html

She is in mortgage arrears on her two-bedroom end terrace, which cost €400,000 when she bought it with her ex-partner at the end of 2007.

She has a 38-year mortgage on a home that may be worth just €200,000 now.

"I try to put the mortgage out of my mind because when I think about it I really stress out, but it's always there," she said.

"This was a dream that turned to dust. It was something that was meant to be for our son's future.

"Now it's like a noose around our neck."

Ms Hynes' monthly income of €2,500 includes an after-tax wage of €1,660, €140 in child benefit and €300 for job seekers’ allowance.

But she revealed that some months, depending on interest rates, her mortgage had peaked at €1,900 a month.

[Shotoflight]

Most savage Budget yet takes €1,000 from families

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/budget/news/most-savage-budget-yet-takes-1000-from-families-3317482.html

THE most savage Budget of the economic downturn has hit ordinary families for €1,000 a year.

Property tax, cuts to child benefit and changes to social insurance have put extraordinary new pressure on squeezed family incomes.

Pensioners will lose out with cuts to the household package that helps for electricity, gas and telephone bills.

And in a move that is set to prove highly controversial, mothers on maternity leave will now have to pay tax on State maternity payments - despite paying for this already through PRSI.

No section of society was left unscathed by the draconian Budget.

[Shotoflight]

New Property Tax Bill gives Revenue more powers

http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/1207/new-property-tax-bill-gives-revenue-more-powers-business.html

The Bill also gives Revenue powers to require statements from third parties such as management and letting companies, lessees or occupiers of property, giving details about the property including who actually owns it.

[Shotoflight]

ESRI study reveals over 20% live in jobless households

http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/1211/esri-jobless-households-.html

A new report from the Economic and Social Research Institute has found that 22% of the Irish population is living in jobless households, which is double the average across Europe.

The study says household joblessness should be recognised as a risk factor for poverty, and found that welfare payments were the most effective way of reducing poverty.

The ESRI focused on working age adults and their dependent children and the effects of the recession on them.

The report found that the percentage of people in jobless households increased from 15% in 2007 to 22% in 2010.

The research also looked at in-work poverty, where people have a job but are living in poor households.

This figure stood at 8% in 2010, similar to the European Union average.

The risk was higher for the self-employed, the report said, as well as for those in a low-skilled occupation, part-time workers and those with no educational qualifications.

[Shotoflight]

11/12/2012: Construction Sector Activity in Ireland - Q3 2012

http://trueeconomics.blogspot.ie/2012/12/11122012-construction-sector-activity.html

Horrible numbers out today for the Irish Building & Construction sector.

Per CSO: "The volume of output in building and construction was 4.2% lower in the third quarter of 2012 when compared with the preceding period. This reflects decreases of 5.3%, 2.4% and 1.9% respectively in the volume of residential building, civil engineering and non-residential building. The change in the value of production for all building and construction was -2.1%. On an annual basis, the volume of output in building and construction decreased by 10.8% in the third quarter of 2011. The value of production decreased by 8.5% in the same period."

If anything the above dynamics clearly show that the rates of activity collapse are accelerating through Q3 2012, nto ameliorating or turning to positive growth. Both series dynamics, therefore, are consistent with worsening of economic conditions, not stabilization or a turnaround.

[Shotoflight]

Government vows to close loophole preventing banks repossessing homes

http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/government-vows-to-close-loophole-preventing-banks-repossessing-homes-3324077.html

The Government has promised to remove a legal loophole which has stopped banks repossessing properties.

The measure, which was contained in the quarterly agreement with the troika, won't be introduced until borrowers' homes are protected by the new personal insolvency legislation.

The Government will move to remove "unintended constraints on banks to realise the value of loan collateral under certain circumstances," it said in the latest update to its bailout programme yesterday.

The move is likely to hit the 37,000 people who own buy-to-let homes and have a mortgage, as well as some of the 11,000 people who have restructured their loans. Until now, these landlords have been protected by the legal ruling that effectively made it impossible to repossess homes.

Before December 2009, banks used a 1964 law as the basis to repossess homes. This was repealed and replaced in 2009, which, due to a drafting oversight, applied only to loans taken out after December 1, 2009.

The flaw became apparent in a July 2011 case overseen by Judge Elizabeth Dunne. She ruled a lender wasn't entitled to repossess a home used for security on a defaulting €93,000 loan because demand for repossession and repayment was made in July 2010.

[Shotoflight]

135,000 mortgages now in arrears

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/republic-of-ireland/135000-mortgages-now-in-arrears-16250061.html

More than 135,000 mortgages are behind in repayments, official figures have revealed.

The latest Central Bank report on the debt crisis shows almost 11.3% of mortgages were three months behind in repayments at the end of September.

Figures showed that 86,146 mortgage accounts were in arrears of more than 90 days. A further breakdown of the state of the residential property market revealed that 49,482 accounts were classed as being up to three months behind in repayments.

Some 18,745 mortgage accounts were classed as being between 90 and 180 days in arrears, the Central Bank said. The number of restructured mortgages was 81,683 at the end of September.

In its latest report on the housing crisis, the Central Bank said the pace of increase in arrears cases of more than 90 days has slowed further. Other figures from the bank showed that 26,770, 17.9%, of accounts in the buy-to-let sector were in arrears of more than 90 days at the end of September.

[Shotoflight]

Oink!

'Farmer told us to strip, get in pen with boar,' say repossession company workers

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/courts/farmer-told-us-to-strip-get-in-pen-with-boar-say-repossession-company-workers-3325806.html

TWO men working for a repossession company were told to strip and get into a pen with a wild boar after a confrontation with a farmer, a court has been told.

The two men working for the Dublin company said they feared for their lives when they tried to repossess items at a pig farm in Co Longford.

They said that they were only allowed to leave the farm belonging to Donal and Margaret Connaughton once they went down on their knees and said a prayer.

Both men claim they were assaulted and held against their will. They feared they were going to be violated by the agitated large boar.

[Shotoflight]

Free fall over but Budget will not help recovery

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/property/2012/1213/1224327799943.html

The combined effect of the abolition of mortgage interest relief, the new property tax and other austerity measures could apply further downward pressure to house prices next year. Annette Hughes, director of DKM Economic Consultants, says: “People’s ability to pay has been seriously impacted. I would expect that this will drive prices downwards as people won’t be in a position to borrow the same amount – it’s a further drag on disposable income which will fuel lenders’ decisions. There will be less money chasing the same properties.”

News this week that in the New Year the banks will get the power they need to seize control of homes in mortgage arrears, will certainly terrify homeowners already in difficulty, but it’s likely the primary focus of the new measures will be on the one-third of buy-to-let homes in arrears. (The Central Bank’s recent figures show 169,000 home loans consisting of €31 billion in debt in arrears at the end of June, with arrears for 90 days or more running at 20 per cent.)

Losing these properties is a dire outcome for their owners, but according to one of the larger estate agents, rent receivership is already big business. That is, chasing mortgage payments on rental properties from defaulting owners by intervening to redirect payment from tenants directly to the receiver or bank. This sorry development may well lead to greater housing stock levels in the New Year if the banks decide to sell some of these properties on.

A lot of activity in the market this year has been contributed to by cash buyers who now account for about 46 per cent of house sales. According to Hughes: “The good news is that those who can afford it can now buy the property of their dreams and get better value, subject to having the ability to repay.” Cash buyers accounted for 53 per cent of the sales at Allsop auctions this year, where, on average, buyers paid 35 per cent above the reserve price.

There was provision in last week’s Budget for targeted incentives for already identified regeneration areas. Add to this the recent provision of loan finance by Nama to finish properties (€2 billion over the next four years) and a number of estates and multi-unit developments should begin completion from next year. This should boost some jobs and improve supply.

The introduction of the property price register has been a godsend, shining a light where previously there was none. Though it lacks house specifics, it brings far greater transparency as buyers and vendors can better inform their decisions, rather than needing to over-rely on anecdotal advice regarding the value of a property.

[Shotoflight]

New law to bring surge in seizures of buy-to-let properties

http://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/property-mortgages/new-law-to-bring-surge-in-seizures-of-buytolet-properties-3333203.html

REPOSSESSIONS of investor properties are likely to surge when new personal insolvency laws come into effect, it has been warned.

TDs and Senators approved the Personal Insolvency Bill on Wednesday but it will not become law until President Michael D Higgins officially signs off on it.

But one of the country's leading stockbrokers has predicted that there will be a "substantial pick up" in repossessions as a consequence of the legislation, particularly in buy-to-let properties.

Goodbody also said that this could lead to a drop in house prices.

[Shotoflight]

UK is clamping down on Irish 'bankruptcy tourism'

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2012/1222/1224328120082.html

UK courts are clamping down on Irish businesspeople attempting to avail of that jurisdiction’s easier bankruptcy laws, according to insolvency specialists.

Since the property bubble burst in 2008, several high-profile developers have successfully sought bankruptcy in the UK, where they can be discharged with a clean sheet after just one year, compared to 12 years in the Republic.

To avail of the UK’s bankruptcy regime, they had to show they had been resident there for at least six months or that their main centre of operations was there.

A number of insolvency practitioners said it is becoming increasingly difficult for Irish people with substantial interests in the Republic to satisfy UK judges that they fulfil the criteria needed to be declared bankrupt in Britain or Northern Ireland.

Paul McCann, head of insolvency at Grant Thornton, said the firm had been aware of this trend for some time. “Our colleagues in Grant Thornton UK are advising us that their courts are clamping down on bankruptcy tourism,” he said.

Mr McCann warned that Irish people attempting to seek bankruptcy in the UK courts would need substantial evidence to support claims that their main centre of operations is based there.

[Guest_Belfast Fubar_*]

It’s time to deal with mortgage arrears

http://www.rte.ie/blogs/business/2012/12/12/its-time-to-deal-with-mortgage-arrears/

From a few weeks back, but shows a bit about the extent of unsorted debt issues.

[Shotoflight]

Mum in search of bankruptcy forced to leave children

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/mum-in-search-of-bankruptcy-forced-to-leave-children-3334349.html

A divorced mother of two is not looking forward to Christmas as she is emigrating to Belfast in the new year to find work to support her young daughters and avail of their more lenient bankruptcy laws after she was served papers for the repossession of her home.

To do this she must leave her children behind in their rented home in Wicklow.

Raheengraney House, a sprawling Georgian manor house was the Godsil family's dream home when they purchased it in 1996. Jillian Godsil and her husband Mike were very proud of their palatial 5,200 square-foot house in Shillelagh in Co Wicklow, 65 miles from Dublin.

However, life took a downward spiral when her husband of 16 years, an English banker, filed for divorce in England in 2006, and then subsequently declared himself bankrupt, leaving the Trinity graduate with the weight of the huge mortgage of €1m.

After countless attempts to sell the lavish estate, Jillian thought she had got the banks off her back when she finally received an offer for the house of €500,000 in April 2011, but this was later refused by Bank of Scotland. Instead the bank wanted to pursue the divorcee for the full mortgage of €1m.

The court date is set for February 13 next year when the house will be taken back, but the negative equity will remain her debt under Irish law. Now the former public relations boss must emigrate to Belfast next year to find work so as to care for her children Georgina and Kathryn

"It is very saddening to me that come the new year the bank will repossess it [the house] once and for all. And moreover that I shall be left with a huge debt based on the current level of negative equity – the house is worth less than a tenth of the actual mortgage now," she said.

"I have got no protection from the banks. It is all one-sided in this country. Even though the bankers were the professionals in lending me the money, when it all goes belly up, I am the one left holding the can. They take no responsibility for their flawed lending, but I must shoulder the full weight of my financial mistakes. Knowing that there is no running away from this debt in Ireland is slowly killing me."

Life has become a constant drain for Jillian and instead of receiving care and protection from the State; she carries the "dead weight" of her huge mortgage which she said is affecting her sleep patterns and mental health.

"It is horrendous, I wake up every morning between four and five o'clock. I don't go back to sleep, no matter what I am at the night before. I remember the trouble I am in and suddenly everything comes barrelling in on top of me, there is no escape from it. It feels like I am dragging a rotten corpse behind me and I cannot get rid of it. Its smell, its look, its dead weight is just there for me the whole time and there is nothing I can do to shift it."

Jillian used to run a flourishing PR and digital marketing business but now she barely has enough money to pay rent on her downgraded home which she moved into last year. She is living in rented accommodation in a two-bedroom cottage and her previous home has lain unoccupied for the past two years.

[Shotoflight]

Noonan: If they can pay for Sky TV, they can pay my property tax

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/noonan-if-they-can-pay-for-sky-tv-they-can-pay-my-property-tax-3334471.html

Finance Minister Michael Noonan has said the vast majority of Irish people are able to pay the property tax because they can afford up to €1,000 a year for premium television packages such as 'Sky Sports'.

Mr Noonan was speaking in the Seanad last Thursday afternoon as part of the debate on the property tax, where he dismissed opposition claims that a majority of people won't have an ability to pay the new tax, which will be on average €316 per house.

The senator will recall a few weeks ago there was a change in the television signal and a good deal of data came across my desk when that was being done. Does he know that 82 per cent of households in Ireland have pay television packages? Most of them do not have the basic package, they also have sport and film channels, in many instances up to €1,000."

[Democorruptcy]

After countless attempts to sell the lavish estate, Jillian thought she had got the banks off her back when she finally received an offer for the house of €500,000 in April 2011, but this was later refused by Bank of Scotland. Instead the bank wanted to pursue the divorcee for the full mortgage of €1m.

€250k now?

http://www.daft.ie/searchsale.daft?id=317129

[Democorruptcy]

67pc want to keep euro despite economic crisis

A new Europe-wide survey by eurobarometer, which is based on research conducted here last month, shows that 67pc of Irish people are in favour of keeping the single currency – significantly higher than the European average of 53pc.

However, the figure represents a 12 percentage point drop on previous research conducted six months ago.

Unemployment remains our biggest single economic concern, with 65pc citing it as our most pressing issue, compared with the 48pc EU average who rate it as their top concern.

While 91pc described our economy as "totally" bad, placing us in the most pessimistic tranche of Europeans, this was only slightly more pessimistic than the French (89pc) and more optimistic than the Spanish (98pc) and the Italians (93pc) who have an even grimmer view on their own economic outlook than the Irish.

Irish trust in the EU has dropped by 3pc since May, with less than one-third (29pc) considering its institutions trustworthy, compared with 57pc who do not trust them.

Despite this, it seems that we trust the EU considerably more than our own Government, with just 18pc now trusting the Fine Gael/Labour coalition (down 6pc), while 76pc do not trust the Government.

http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/67pc-want-to-keep-euro-despite-economic-crisis-3333973.html

[Sour Mash]

67pc want to keep euro despite economic crisis

A new Europe-wide survey by eurobarometer, which is based on research conducted here last month, shows that 67pc of Irish people are in favour of keeping the single currency – significantly higher than the European average of 53pc.

However, the figure represents a 12 percentage point drop on previous research conducted six months ago.

Unemployment remains our biggest single economic concern, with 65pc citing it as our most pressing issue, compared with the 48pc EU average who rate it as their top concern.

While 91pc described our economy as "totally" bad, placing us in the most pessimistic tranche of Europeans, this was only slightly more pessimistic than the French (89pc) and more optimistic than the Spanish (98pc) and the Italians (93pc) who have an even grimmer view on their own economic outlook than the Irish.

Irish trust in the EU has dropped by 3pc since May, with less than one-third (29pc) considering its institutions trustworthy, compared with 57pc who do not trust them.

Despite this, it seems that we trust the EU considerably more than our own Government, with just 18pc now trusting the Fine Gael/Labour coalition (down 6pc), while 76pc do not trust the Government.

http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/67pc-want-to-keep-euro-despite-economic-crisis-3333973.html

This just proves my belief that the average member of the Irish public manages to somehow be even thicker than the average member of the British public. Eurozone membership is the single greatest factor contributing to the extended (possibly decades long) period of economic misery that they are currently 'enjoying'.

Regarding the 'trust' question; I guess that people are saying that a highly dodgy, essentially unelected (by them anyway), cabal of Euro politicians are likely to make a better job of looking after the interests of the Irish state than the local politicians. Given how utterly stupid and corrupt the Irish political establishment is, that's not actually a great stretch.

However the Irish public don't seem to have twigged that these politicians were elected by them and if they keep electing stupid, greedy and corrupt Gombeen men into office they are going to keep getting stupid, greedy and corrupt politicians running the country.

You get the politicians you deserve. Ireland (either side of the border) is a very good example of that. At least in GB politicians keep up the appearance of propriety and doing what is best for the country as a whole or following some sort of political philosophy. In Ireland take your pick from open crookedness, naked self interest or sectarian rabble rousing.

[Shotoflight]

Irish house prices rise at fastest pace in six years

House prices in Ireland rose at the fastest pace in more than six years in November, as the country recovers from Europe’s worst real estate crash.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/houseprices/9769402/Irish-house-prices-rise-at-fastest-pace-in-six-years.html

Aside from Greece, Irish house prices fell the most among countries in the 12 months to September 30, according to data by Knight Frank LLP.

Ireland's property bubble burst spectacularly after peaking in 2007 as years of reckless lending left banks with huge losses and homeowners with hefty mortgage repayments.

The crash has been the one of the steepest and most disastrous of any developed country since the Second World War.

Over the famed Celtic Tiger years – a period between 1995 and 2007 when the Irish economy was growing by five to six per cent annually – average house prices mushroomed by 330 per cent (and more than 500 per cent in parts of Dublin).

As many as 700,000 new houses were built during these years – almost one for every six of Ireland’s 4.6 million citizens.

By 2007 the Irish building industry accounted for 25 per cent of GDP and 20 per cent of jobs.

[Shotoflight]

Why you've already missed the boat as this property cycle nears its end

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/why-youve-already-missed-the-boat-as-this-property-cycle-nears-its-end-3338385.html

In April, the Central Bank agreed and estimated the over-correction at between 12pc and 26pc.

It listed the deterrents for purchasing as follows:

1. A lack of investor confidence.

2. Fears of further falling prices.

3. Worries about the economic situation generally.

4. The lack of bank credit.

Since then confidence has lifted somewhat, prices and the economy have stabilised and there are signs that banks have begun lending again, albeit in limited circumstances. Since January it's been generally cheaper to buy than to rent.

While Ireland's property price crash has been unique in terms of its sheer scale (49pc matches Japan's worst ever crash from 1991) it has not been exceptional in terms of how it has played out.

A look at the 'Four stages of a bubble' model, which shows the cycles of property markets as expounded by world 'bubblenomist' Dr Jean Paul Rodrigue of Hofstra University, NY, shows our property market has passed through the 'mania' phase (up to 2006) and through the 'blow-off phase' (2006 to 2011).

The CSO stats now suggest 2012 was the 'stealth phase' through which most people maintained a pessimistic outlook, but a period during which the smartest investors bought their property.

This was best illustrated back in October when it was revealed that one investor had acquired a house on Dublin's Northumberland Road in July for €550,000 and 'flipped' it three months later for €685,000, earning a profit of €135,000.

Archive (2007) article from Twunt in the comments section

The smart, ballsy guys are buying up property right now

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/the-smart-ballsy-guys-are-buying-up-property-right-now-1047118.html

You don't even need money to buy property these days. Imagine if you walked into the bank and said, "Listen, guys. I want to gamble a million on the stock market. I have 100 grand myself, will you guys lend me 900 grand at really low rates and I'll pay you back over 40 years? In fact I won't even pay off the principal, I'll just pay off the interest." They'd laugh you out of it. But substitute gambling on the property market for gambling on the stock market and they'll fall over themselves to give it to you.

[Shotoflight]

What's another (terrible) year?

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2012/1229/1224328241542.html

The problem, though, is that this recession looks nothing like the one in the 1980s. Back then, our lucky stars all came into alignment: the high-tech boom in the US generated huge investment; the EU was in generous, expansionary mode, with Ireland still its poor little pet; the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War unleashed a huge expansion in global trade. Back then, too, the State may have been broke but Irish citizens had relatively low levels of personal debt.

Now, of course, the global picture is bleak: the model of capitalism that has been in the ascendant since 1980 is in a deep crisis but nothing has come along to take its place. And this time both the State and a majority of its citizens are bust. There’s no Jacques Delors to pump billions in structural funds into the Irish economy: if anything, the flow of money is going the other way as German and French banks and bondholders extract billions in bank liabilities from Irish citizens.

The idea that the private economy would take up the slack as public spending was slashed has proven to be entirely hollow. There’s a simple reality that too many people have too little money to spend. The tracking survey by the Irish League of Credit Unions found that 1.85 million people now have less than €100 at the end of the month after paying all their bills. More than 1.3 million have less than €50 left. An extraordinary 42 per cent had to borrow money to pay bills within the previous 12 months. Eight out of 10 respondents worry that they won’t be able to cope with rising energy costs this winter. For a very large swathe of middle and working Ireland, money is increasingly and unbearably tight.

[Long Time Lurker]

Why you've already missed the boat as this property cycle nears its end

http://www.independe...nd-3338385.html

In April, the Central Bank agreed and estimated the over-correction at between 12pc and 26pc.

It listed the deterrents for purchasing as follows:

1. A lack of investor confidence.

2. Fears of further falling prices.

3. Worries about the economic situation generally.

4. The lack of bank credit.

Since then confidence has lifted somewhat, prices and the economy have stabilised and there are signs that banks have begun lending again, albeit in limited circumstances. Since January it's been generally cheaper to buy than to rent.

While Ireland's property price crash has been unique in terms of its sheer scale (49pc matches Japan's worst ever crash from 1991) it has not been exceptional in terms of how it has played out.

A look at the 'Four stages of a bubble' model, which shows the cycles of property markets as expounded by world 'bubblenomist' Dr Jean Paul Rodrigue of Hofstra University, NY, shows our property market has passed through the 'mania' phase (up to 2006) and through the 'blow-off phase' (2006 to 2011).

The CSO stats now suggest 2012 was the 'stealth phase' through which most people maintained a pessimistic outlook, but a period during which the smartest investors bought their property.

This was best illustrated back in October when it was revealed that one investor had acquired a house on Dublin's Northumberland Road in July for €550,000 and 'flipped' it three months later for €685,000, earning a profit of €135,000.

Archive (2007) article from Twunt in the comments section

The smart, ballsy guys are buying up property right now

http://www.independe...ow-1047118.html

You don't even need money to buy property these days. Imagine if you walked into the bank and said, "Listen, guys. I want to gamble a million on the stock market. I have 100 grand myself, will you guys lend me 900 grand at really low rates and I'll pay you back over 40 years? In fact I won't even pay off the principal, I'll just pay off the interest." They'd laugh you out of it. But substitute gambling on the property market for gambling on the stock market and they'll fall over themselves to give it to you.

NamaWineLake has some helpful analysis of the CSO figures.

http://namawinelake....month-increase-since-september-2006/

One of the key points is that the CSO figures are based on the mortgage transactions at nine financial institutions only. No cash sales are included in the CSO figures.

The nine financial institutions are: Ulster Bank, Allied Irish Banks, Bank of Ireland, ICS Building Society, the Educational Building Society, Permanent TSB, KBC, National Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide Building Society.

[Shotoflight]

Happy New Year? (and future years)

Raft of new charges to cost households €1,000 this year

http://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/latest-news/raft-of-new-charges-to-cost-households-1000-this-year-3340257.html

A RAFT of new levies and charges enforced from this week are set to cost households up to €1,000 each over the full year.

Consumers are being hit with higher rail and bus fares, increased taxes on savings, rises in car insurance for women and a hike in motor tax.

Other areas where prices are set to rise include health insurance and the cost of a driver's licence, while later this year the new property tax kicks in. Most of the rises are due to government decisions following the Budget last month.

The impact of the higher charges will be felt from January 1, in what experts said would mean another massive strain on family finances.

[Shotoflight]

Number of evictions plummets as banks fear getting stuck with rows of empty houses

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/number-of-evictions-plummets-as-banks-fear-getting-stuck-with-rows-of-empty-houses-3342634.html

THERE has been a dramatic fall in the number of evictions in the capital because banks are desperate to avoid being "left with empty properties", the Dublin sheriff has said.

Figures obtained by the Evening Herald show that there was just 10 evictions carried out in Dublin in 2012 – one of the lowest figures in years.

Banks issued the Sheriff’s Office a total of 67 court orders – but demanded evictions in just 10 cases.