The Government is likely to hit savers with a higher Dirt tax in this week’s Budget, costing investors about €1 for every €1,000 they have on deposit, The Sunday Business Post reports. Read the full story

People who cannot service their mortgage could declare insolvency and be released from bankruptcy  – including their mortgage deficits – within three years under new government proposals, according to the main story in The Sunday Business Post. Read the full story

Taxpayers will have to wait even longer than they thought to recoup any money spent to prop up the Irish banking system because banks will be allowed to offset billions in losses against their future tax bills, The Sunday Business Post reports. Read the full story

The row rumbles on over the controversial pensions levy to fund the Government’s Jobs Initiative with stark warnings about a flight of capital from Irish banks as an unintended consequence. Read the full story

Although Irish institutions now have to pay the best deposit rates in Europe just to maintain funds here, they are still falling behind soaring inflation. Read the full story

One in three homeowners who have taken out a mortgage since 2004 now find themselves in negative equity, according to Central Bank figures, The Sunday Business Post reports. The Central Bank estimates around one in eight of all Irish households are in negative equity but the figures rise dramatically for those who took out their mortgages more recently. Read the full story

AIB will this week announce it intends to shed 2,000 jobs across its operations on a phased basis and is also expected to outline plans to reduce its loan portfolios by up to €19 billion, according to The Sunday Times. Read the full story

Analysis of the bank stress tests and details of the restructuring dominated the headlines this weekend. The estimated bill for rescuing the Irish banking sector increased by €24 billion last week and now stands at €70bn with only two main banks remaining as financial “pillars” – Bank of Ireland and an AIB/ESB hybrid. Irish Life & Permanent will sell off its life assurance arm and permanenttsb will be hived off as a niche mortgage bank or wound down.   Read the full story

This week’s drastic bank restructuring announcement leaves consumers with only two main state-supported Irish banks to choose from – Bank of Ireland and an AIB/EBS hybrid. Although there are two foreign owned banks still in the mix, Ulster Bank and National Irish Bank, only Ulster Bank is focusing on personal banking customers. Read the full story

People with a Permanent TSB tracker mortgage should suspend voluntary overpayments for a while to await news of a possible sweetener to be introduced by the bank, The Sunday Times’ personal finance editor Niall Brady advises. Read the full story