Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG

Ireland takes big step towards exiting bailout with new 10-year bond sale

  

NTMA RAISES €5 BILLION VIA AUCTION OF BENCHMARK 10-YEAR NOTES

NTMA chief executive John Corrigan (right) speaks to the media at a briefing in the Treasury Building in Dublin. 

Ireland took a major step towards exiting its bailout programme today by selling €5 billion worth of 10-year bonds.The National Treasury Management Agency ’s auction was seen as a major test of Ireland’s ability to raise long-term funds from capital markets.

The issuance, which matures in March 2023, was double the size that many analysts had forecast. It is understood the agency was guiding that it would issue €2 billion to €3 billion but had offers of up to €12 billion.

It was the first issuance of 10-year notes since the country entered its EU-IMF bailout in late 2010.

Traders said the new debt would yield around 4.15 per cent, compared to a yield of 3.7 per cent on Ireland’s current benchmark 2020 bond.

At the height of euro financial crisis two year ago, the yield on Ireland’s 2020 bond climbed to over 15 per cent.

“This shows Ireland has firmly returned to the market,” said a trader who took part in the auction. “It sends an important signal.”

Today’s auction is likely to have a significant impact on the country’s credit rating.

“This represents an important milestone in the country’s re-engagement with the bond market,” said economist with NCB stockbrokers Philip O’Sullivan said.

“Today’s launch of new 10-year issuance could have important ramifications for Ireland’s credit rating.”

The NTMA has set itself a target of raising €10 billion this year to help fund the country’s day-to-day spending.

The agency had already raised €2.5 billion of the target with the issuance of five-year notes in January.

Yields on Ireland’s current benchmark 2020 bond fell further last week after European Union finance ministers agreed to look at how to extend the maturity of emergency loans Ireland and Portugal have received under their bailouts.

Irish Central Bank’s new repossession policy ‘is a form of terrorism’

  

The Central Bank’s new policy on mortgages is an “act of terrorism” on borrowers and repossessions will rapidly increase, homeowners have been warned.

Representative groups have slammed the move by the Central Bank and the Department of Finance, which they say has given unprecedented powers to banks.

The financial regulator and Central Bank deputy governor Matthew Elderfield said that resistance to repossessions is futile as even families who were engaging with their lenders may end up losing their homes.

And Finance Minister Michael Noonan also confirmed that legislation will allow lenders to take homes and buy-to-lets away from those who are not meeting their payments.

Mr Noonan emphasised that repossessions would be a last resort and most of the cases would refer to the buy-to-let sector.

He said there was no reason for people to mistrust the banks and everyone would be working towards a fair solution.

“Quite a lot of people will be sorted out pretty quickly in a way that’s sustainable,” he said.

Spiralling

However, the Irish Mortgage Holders Organisation’s David Hall predicts that there will be a “spiralling” increase in home repossessions and borrowers will have less rights.

“There is nothing surer than death, taxes and repossessions – everyone has been very clear about that,” he told the Herald.

“It is quite remarkable to give the banks the powers and it is very worrying.

“Yesterday was an act of terrorism against borrowers. It wasn’t a good day for borrowers and there is another massive pool of uncertainty for the next couple of months.”

Mr Noonan and Mr Elderfield outlined plans to force the main banks to offer people in mortgage arrears long-term deals or face financial penalties. New targets will see six banks forced to offer deals to lower mortgage payments in an attempt to keep most people in their homes.

Banks that do not co-operate will be told to put extra capital aside – an amount equal to what the bank would get if the home was repossessed, and the cost of repossessing the property.

But Mr Hall said that the decision to allow banks increase the number of contacts they make per month will put undue stress on homeowners.

Sean Quinn Junior provides bank statements to court

   

The  son of bankrupt businessman Sean Quinn has provided statements of Russian bank accounts held by himself and other family members to Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) and is anxious to finally purge his contempt of court orders, the High Court heard today.

Martin Hayden SC, for Mr Quinn, said he and his wife Karen Woods are very stressed by the court proceedings and Mr Quinn is very anxious the contempt issues are fully resolved as soon as possible and intended to make an application in that regard.

A number of steps had been taken but his clients wanted to keep certain issues private, he added.

Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne said she understood the need to balance both the concerns of Mr Quinn and IBRC and she noted the bank wanted an opportunity to examine the documents provided by Mr Quinn in purported compliance with the court’s orders.

The overall issue of a payment of US$500,000 to Larissa Puga, the former general diretcor of Quinn Properties Ukraine, remained to be

resolved, she also said.   Mr Quinn was found in contempt of court arising from that Puga payment and was jailed for three months.

His father Sean Quinn Senior also served a period in jail for contempt and the judge heard yesterday Mr Quinn Senior had indicated he would abide by whatever orders the court made in the matter but had some concerns about proposals advanced by the bank.

There was no appearance by Peter Darragh Quinn, a nephew of Mr Quinn, who was also found in contempt. An order for his arrest to serve a three month sentence has not been effected because he remains outside the jurisdiction at his home in Northern Ireland.

Having heard from the sides, the judge adjourned the matter for mention only on April 11th and said both sides could file sworn statements in the matter.

Perjeta breast cancer drug ‘biggest boost since Herceptin’

 

Thousands of women with a type of advanced breast cancer could benefit from a drug described as the biggest step-change in treatment of the disease since Herceptin was introduced in 1999.

Perjeta has been shown to cut the chance of dying within three years of starting treatment by a third.

It works in combination with Herceptin, for the fifth of patients who are suitable for the established drug. These are women whose cancer cells have particularly high levels of a protein called HER2.

Dr David Miles, a consultant oncologist at Mount Vernon Cancer Centre near Watford, said: “Perjeta has been shown to extend survival and control cancer for longer than the current standard of care – showing a magnitude of benefit that has not been seen since the launch of Herceptin more than ten years ago.

“This marks a significant step forward in the treatment of this aggressive, difficult-to-treat disease.”

Roche, which makes Perjeta, has just been given permission to market the drug across Europe by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). It costs £31,135 for a year’s supply.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice), which rations expensive treatments, has not yet decided on whether to make it available as standard in the English and Welsh NHS .

However, for the moment women in England will be able to apply for it through the Cancer Drugs Fund.

It received the EMA’s approval after a trial found that using it with Herceptin and chemotherapy, cut the chance of dying within three years by 34 per cent, compared to using Herceptin and chemotherapy alone.

The Cleopatra study also found it extended the average time that tumours were stalled, from 12.4 to 18.5 months.

Perjeta works by blocking a method by which tumour cells get around the ‘blocking’ effect of Herceptin.

While Herceptin blocks the ‘survive and multiply’ signals that HER2 receptors send out, often the receptors get around that by sending out even more powerful signals by pairing with related receptors in this family of proteins. The process is known as dimerisation. Perjeta blocks this pairing process.

Despite its benefits the drug, like other cancer medicines, has unpleasant side effects. For instance, when used with Herceptin and chemotherapy, two-thirds suffered from diarrhoea.

Baroness Delyth Morgan, chief executive of Breast Cancer Campaign said it “should be made available to all women who will benefit from it as soon as possible”.

She said: “Perjeta has the potential to bring a significant, and precious, extension of life to around 2,000 women with advanced breast cancer each year, by preventing the cancer from progressing for longer than we’ve seen with other treatment combinations.”

Dr Emma Pennery, clinical director of the charity Breast Cancer Care said: “This drug, when combined with Herceptin and chemotherapy can provide a more effective, targeted treatment option to delay progression of this aggressive disease than Herceptin and chemotherapy alone, but with comparable side effects.

“The priority now must be that Perjeta is made widely accessible across the UK as soon as possible for patients with secondary breast cancer whose lives could be extended from its use.”

Nice is likely to make a decision on Perjeta next autumn or winter. Roche is working on a ‘patient access scheme’ to bring down the cost to the NHS, said a spokesman.

*Only one in eight women who have pregnancy-related diabetes are later checked to see if they are at risk of developing life-long diabetes, according to research due to be presented in Manchester today.

Archaeologists excavating ancient settlement in Co Fermanagh given more time for dig

  

Archaeologists excavating an ancient settlement in Co Fermanagh have been given yet more time to complete their work before a road is built on top of it. 

Environment Minister Alex Attwood gave temporary protection for the site last summer.

The dig team at the Drumclay Crannog in Enniskillen have now been granted four extensions to allow them to retrieve artefacts from a site already credited with rewriting the history of early Christian and medieval Ulster.

Earlier this month the cut off point had been pushed back to April 8, but Roads Minister Danny Kennedy has now approved a further week of excavation. He insisted it would be the final extension.

The crannog, which is a man-made island built in a lake to provide settlers with added security, lies in the path of the planned A32 Cherrymount link road.

Mr Kennedy wants the road to be completed by the time of the G8 summit in Fermanagh in June.

Controversy already surrounds the route of the road and alleged destruction of part of the settlement last summer before the crannog was given temporary protection by Environment Minister Alex Attwood.

The site has generated great interest in Fermanagh, with more than 1,000 people having attended open days. It is remarkably well preserved because it has been entombed in bog land.

But long term preservation of the crannog is not an option as it is already starting to decay as a result of exposure to the air. Archaeologists have found around 4,000 artefacts during the eight-month dig, some dating back more than 1,000 years.

Discoveries include a wood cutting axe from around the 9th century, pieces of a medieval board game, bone and antler combs, parts of log boats, leather shoes, knives, decorated dress pins, wooden vessels and a bowl with a cross carved on its base.

Experts are excited about the finds because their styles and designs hint at influences from elsewhere in Europe, suggesting the area had more extensive links with the wider world than previously thought. Mr Kennedy said the further extension would not hit the timeframe for completing the road before the G8.