The former chief executive of the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) has rejected claims that the bank was too close to businessman Denis O’Brien.
Mike Aynsley led the bank when it approved the sale of Siteserv, a building services group that was sold to Mr O'Brien in a deal that cost the taxpayer €110m in 2012.
Speaking to the Sunday Business Post, Mr Aynsley defended the deal - he says that Siteserv was sold to the bidder who offered the best return.
He added that the bank was aware that it was likely that Siteserv would bid for Ireland's water metering contract - but the tender was too far away from the time of the deal to predict that a bid from the company would be successful.
Former IBRC chairman Alan Dukes has added that any suggestion there could be "criminality" involved in the transaction is "outrageous."
Meanwhile, Irish Independent reports that it understands that a register setting out who owned shares in Siteserv when the company was sold in 2012 is likely to be made available to review later today.
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The Finance Minister Michael Noonan is expected to spell out up to €1.4bn in tax cuts and spending increases in its Spring Statement tomorrow.
According to Irish Times, Mr Noonan will use his address to the Dáil to reveal a five-year plan for the economy.
The statement is expected to mark the beginning of anticipated pay talks with public sector unions, and prepare to sell down its stake in AIB.
When Mr Noonan gets to his feet in the Dáil tomorrow afternoon his speech is expected to signal the end of several years of austerity budgets.
His Spring Statement is understood to contain between €1.2bn and €1.4bn in spending increases, changes to income tax and the USC - as well as the tax system for the self-employed.
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Relations between Greek finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis and his counterparts across the Eurogroup have continued to fray - last week's Eurogroup meeting is being referred to as the 'Rumble in Riga.'
Eight of those who were present at the meeting have broke decorum and described the breakdown in relations.
Mr Varoufakis was accused of wasting the other minister's time. Peter Kazimir, Slovakia’s finance minister, launched a verbal attack at the Greek, while other ministers joined him in expressing their frustration at Greece's lack of progress.
"All the ministers told him: this can’t go on," Spain’s Luis de Guindos said on Saturday. "The feeling among the 18 was exactly the same. There was no kind of divergence."
The Syriza minister declined to offer a comment on the matter to Bloomberg - but he did tweet a line from a 1936 speech by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt: "They are unanimous in their hate for me; and I welcome their hatred."
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Ryanair Chief executive, Michael O’ Leary, says he expects that the airline will cut fares by between 10 and 15 percent over the next two years due to the impact of lower oil prices.
Quoted in the French newspaper, Journal due Dimanche yesterday, he said the airline’s current average fare of €46 could fall to €40 by as early as next year.
Meanwhile Newstalk understands that there has been hard-nosed engagement between Ryanair and advisers to the IAG bid for Aer Lingus and that it’s still not clear whether Ryanair will sell at the €2.55 per share offer price.
Other issues still complicating the process include the current stand-off between SIPTU and the Department of Transport over the tendering of bus routes currently operated by Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann.
The Aer Lingus AGM takes place on Friday (Mat 1st).
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77 year-old Ferdinance Piech announced his resignation over the weekend after two decades as chairman of Volkswagen having lost a boardroom battle with chief executive, Martin Winterkorn.
Mr Piech had expected the opposite result when he informed a German newspaper earlier this month that he was at some distance from Mr Winterkorn, a tactic that had forced other executive resignations in the past.
The tactic backfired when the Porsche family, related to the Piech, the company’s powerful unions and the state of Lower Saxony, which has a 20 percent stake in the group backed Mr Winterkorn over Mr Piech.
