SCENE & HEARD:Minister for Justice Alan Shatter is seeking to curtail the number of Irish citizens being declared bankrupt in Britain.
He has raised the issue with the British government and is now using Ireland’s EU presidency to push for clear guidelines on European bankruptcy laws, the Sunday Business Post reports.
It reports that the Government is trying to tighten the tests used to determine whether a person can declare bankruptcy in another jurisdiction.
Green energy companies clash in the High Court
Element Power, the US-backed green energy company planning a major wind farm project in the midlands, has launched legal proceedings against rival Mainstream Renewable Power, which is behind a similar project.
The Sunday Times reports that Element has sought a High Court injunction to prevent Mainstream distributing what it claims to be “inaccurate information” to landowners about Greenwire, Element’s project.
RTÉ and Google plan digital deal for TV and radio archive
Google is understood to have held “high-level” talks with RTÉ in a move to digitise the broadcaster’s television and radio archive and share content. According to the Sunday Independent, the State broadcaster also plans to introduce an online paywall for foreign-based viewers of RTÉ programming.
Danske Bank pressured to reveal customer details
Danske Bank could be ordered to provide confidential information to the Revenue Commissioners on its Irish customers who had Isle of Man accounts more than a decade ago, if it does not seek permission from the Manx courts to release the data itself.
The Sunday Business Post reports that the Supreme Court has given National Irish Bank – owned by Danske since 2005 – 12 weeks to apply to the courts of the Isle of Man for permission to furnish the information to the Revenue on customers who had deposit facilities in its offshore subsidiaries between 1991 and 2002.
Britain looks for power to break up rogue banks
The British chancellor is in last-ditch negotiations over plans for new powers to split up Britain’s leading banks should proposals to “ring-fence” retail and investment divisions fail to work.
According to the Sunday Telegraph, George Osborne was negotiating over the weekend with Vince Cable, the business secretary, on the detail of a reserve power the government could use if banks were found to have broken the rules.
Ryanair in talks over enhanced Aer Lingus deal
Ryanair was reported to have been in talks over the weekend with British Airways’ parent company IAG and regional carrier Flybe on an enhanced package of remedies to secure European Commission approval for its €694 million bid for Aer Lingus. The Sunday Times says the deal could be tabled to “interested parties” as early as this week.
