Hopes rise for mortgage rate cuts to boost our economy 

HOPES of mortgage rate cuts rose today as pressure increased for immediate action to boost embattled eurozone economies.
Hard-pressed homeowners struggling to pay bills may soon benefit from the first of a series of mortgage cuts being urged on the European Central Bank.
Influential international bodies declared sharp interest-rate reductions were "urgently needed" to give a new lease of life to economies throughout Europe as a slide back into recession loomed.
The influential Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) warned the euro crisis was rapidly worsening throughout the region. It demanded substantial loan rate reductions.
Earlier this month, the ECB reversed its previous policy and cut interest rates to 1.25pc. A series of further cuts are now believed to be on the way.
Four cuts, including the most recent one, would reduce repayments on a €200,000 tracker mortgage by €120 a month. Up to 400,000 homeowners in Ireland will benefit from the expected cuts.
Danger
It is believed the first cut will come next month followed by another cut in the first weeks of the New Year. Further decreases in February or March are also likely.
An OECD report declared the euro itself was now in danger and action was necessary.
Lower interest rates and more intervention in markets by the European Central Bank could kick-start consumer spending and restore confidence.
The OECD wants the ECB to do more to end the crisis, before it is too late.
Over a year, a series of mortgage cuts would mean householders on a €200,000 tracker mortgage would be €1,440 better off. That would go some way to balance out the the €3.8bn tax and spending hits in the Budget.
While 400,000 tracker mortgages payers would automatically benefit from rate reductions, banks are not obliged to pass on rate cuts to those on variable rates.
Goodbody economist Dermot O'Leary said ECB rates could fall as low as 0.5pc, which would imply another three cuts. Alan McQuaid of Bloxham Stockbrokers said there was a 50/50 chance of a cut in eurozone rates next week.

Pressure piles on Germany to save the eurozone as debt crisis deepens

PRESSURE was mounting on Germany today to "save" the eurozone.
As finance ministers from across the zone met to approve the next tranche of emergency loans for Ireland, focus turned to Angela Merkel's stance on the crisis.
In an unusual move, the Polish foreign minister Rdoslaw Sikorski declared that the biggest threat to his own nation's security was not terrorism, or German tanks, or even Russian missiles, but the collapse of the euro.
"I will probably be the first Polish foreign minister in history to say so, but here it is: I fear German power less than I am beginning to fear German inactivity," he said.
But Germany's finance minister Wolfgang Schauble has rejected calls for the European Central Bank to act as a "lender of last resort" in the eurozone. And he dismissed demands for jointly guaranteed eurozone bonds to relieve the pressure on the most heavily debt-strapped nations.
The OECD called for "a substantial relaxation of monetary conditions" to help cure the eurozone debt crisis.
This is widely understood to be a demand for cuts in eurozone interest rates.
Minsters from the eurozone were today trying to agree on new details for the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF).
They are hoping to make the fund large enough to support Italy or Spain if the crisis deepens further.
Detailed guidelines for the EFSF are said to be ready for approval by the ministers, opening the way for new operations and multiplying the fund's size.
Fund
The guidelines should clear the way for the €440bn facility to attract cash from private and public investors in coming weeks.
It is also expected that the latest agreement will try to lure private investors back to the bond markets by offering partial protection on their purchases of eurozone sovereign bonds. It is hoped that this will help boost demand and lower sovereign funding costs.
Meanwhile, international ratings agency Moody's has warned it could downgrade the subordinated debt of 87 banks across 15 EU nations.
No Irish institutions are listed among the banks on Moody's radar.
The agency said the downgrades would be on concerns that governments would be too cash-strapped to bailout holders of riskier bank debt in times of stress.
Moody's said the greatest number of ratings to be reviewed were in Spain, Italy, Austria and France.
Moody's also warned that the risk to ratings could extend outside the borders of the European Union to "other closely integrated markets" such as Norway or Switzerland.

Plot by 'Fat' Freddie gang to wipe out King Ratt rivals

AN INFORMER in the 'Fat' Freddie Thompson drugs gang led gardai to a weapons haul that was to be used to wipe out senior members of the rival King Ratt gang.
Gardai seized four deadly weapons which Thompson's mob had acquired in order to re-ignite the Crumlin/Drimnagh feud.
Among the haul were two Ingram machine guns which were to be used to kill members of the rival Brian 'King Ratt' Rattigan gang -- possibly in a pub attack.
But detectives stopped an unprecedented gangland bloodbath after getting key information from within Thompson's network which led to a massive operation in September of last year.
At the time, Thompson was abroad - spending his time between Birmingham and Amsterdam - and the weapons haul was the responsibility of one of his most trusted lieutenants.
However, they were betrayed by an informant.
Drug addict Paul O'Neill was caught with the machine guns, two other firearms, two silencers and 50 rounds of ammunition on September 22, 2010, at an industrial estate in Damestown, west Dublin.
Cocaine
Detectives also recovered €28,276 worth of cocaine.
A source explained: "These machine guns are absolutely lethal - they could cut someone in half. We have no doubt that they were to be used in a feud related attack. After this operation, there was a huge amount of paranoia within the Thompson gang and the seizure was a major blow to them."
Yesterday O'Neill was jailed for five years at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
In court, Detective Linda Williams said that gardai were informed that they may find drugs and firearms at O'Neill's.
That evening, gardai saw a man at the rear of a silver Peugeot 207 and watched him take two black bags from the car and put them into a shed.
After gardai stopped the car they searched it and discovered a black laptop case which contained two Ingram machine guns, two silencers and 50 rounds of ammunition.
O'Neill told gardai "the rest" of the items were at his work place and in a follow-up search gardai found two further firearms and 404 grams of cocaine valued at €28,276.
Threat
O'Neill, who had no previous convictions, told gardai he was under threat and in fear of his safety by a gang from the inner city of Dublin and indicated he had financial problems from his gambling.
He told gardai he became involved with the gang 12 months before his arrest.
Sources say that he was "being used" by the gang because he was not previously not known to gardai.
"It was a tactic that Freddie's gang commonly use - get people who have clean records to hold on to stuff for them," a source explained.
Yesterday's case is similar to a case last week where Michael Fitzgerald (30) from Cushlawn Park, Tallaght, was jailed for eight years after being busted with a huge stash of cocaine, money and guns which belonged to the Thompson mob.
Like O' Neill, Fitzgerald had no previous criminal record before being targeted in garda raids in June of last year which made him "very useful" to the Thompson gang.
Yesterday Judge Martin Nolan said O'Neill was "being used by other parties to transport guns and he was a useful person in their criminal enterprises".
"He was sucked into this criminal enterprise through his gambling and cocaine addiction as he owed money.
"The amount of guns and ammunition makes this a very serious offence and he now has to pay the heavy price," the judge added.