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Jobs minister Richard Bruton has described as justifiable the criticism of a controversial dispute mechanism that can see investors sue sovereigns and which is set to apply to Ireland as part of a new trade agreement.

The investor state dispute settlement mechanism which forms part of numerous trade deals globally and is set to be included in the hotly debated Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership between the EU and US has drawn the ire of concerned parties who claim it undermines the rights of sovereign states to regulate industry.

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Revenues and margins at Europe’s big three credit rating agencies are back to pre-financial crisis levels and the trio are in line for more business, despite a welter of new rules aimed at reducing their influence, a regulator said on Monday.

Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch came under fire when securitised debt they rated highly turned toxic from 2007, sowing the seeds for a global market meltdown and costly bank bailouts.

Politicians on both sides of the Atlantic passed a raft of rules to better supervise the agencies and the US even banned the use of ratings in some instances.

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European shares fell on Tuesday after talks between Greece and euro zone finance ministers over the country’s rescue package broke down, raising doubts about Athens’ future in the euro.

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The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index was down 0.3 percent at 1,497.06 points at 0803 GMT. Greece’s Athex share index was due to open at 0830 GMT.

Euro zone banks, which have a large exposure to the region’s sovereign debt market, led the declines, falling 1 percent.

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There is growing optimism that the world economic recovery will pick up pace this year, and that bodes well for Ireland, writes Oliver Mangan.

Last week, the Bank of England became the latest body to revise up its growth forecasts. It is projecting that the UK economy will grow by 2.9% this year, compared to 2.6% last year.

It expects the UK economy to also expand by 2.9% in 2016, an upward revision from its previous forecast of 2.5%.

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Hedge funds in Europe are shutting down at the fastest-ever pace as rising costs, weak performance, and a slowdown in the pace of new investment leads embattled founders to bail out.

Four in every 10 funds which closed last year were in Europe, home to a large number of smaller funds, as the total number of closures rose to a record 370, Eurekahedge data showed, even as other regions benefited from a rise in global industry assets to a record near $3tn (€2.6tn).

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THE current government blew an opportunity to get a debt write-down deal and a “slower pace of austerity” from the EU/ECB/IMF troika when it took office four years ago, the former IMF chief of mission to Ireland said today.

“When this (Irish) government came in it had a mandate,” he said in an interview on Newstalks’s Lunchtime programme.

“The new government had so much going for it.

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The Government needs to dramatically change its economic policy and taxation system or risk Ireland moving to “US levels of inequality” according to a left-wing think tank.

A new report from the think tank for Action on Social Change (Tasc) claims that, on average, the top 1pc of earners in Ireland make €373,300. The bottom 90pc average €27,400, the report claims.

Workers’ share of national income fell from 65pc in 1990 to 56pc in 2009, Tasc added.

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The cost to the taxpayer for the bailout of Newbridge Credit Union (NCU) may be some way off the €53.9m provided for by the Central Bank.

That is according to new figures provided by the Minister for Finance Michael Noonan.

In November 2013, the Central Bank appointed Permanent TSB to take over NCU and provided a State fund of up to €53m to make good the losses at the credit union.

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The Irish economy will be a “pocket of growth” in an otherwise sclerotic eurozone helped by a weak euro and strong recovery among its main trading partners, according to a leading economist.

Richard Lacaille, global chief investment officer at State Street Global Advisors, says Irish exports are set to grow as the effects of the ECB’s quantitative easing programme cause the euro to weaken.

Technology, tourism, and agriculture products will benefit most as they have rising trade ties with the US and UK markets.

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A committee of 45 members of the European Parliament plans to trawl back through more than two decades of national tax agreements with big companies.

The special committee was voted for by an overwhelming majority of members of the Parliament following the LuxLeaks revelations and the ongoing investigation by the European Commission into tax rulings.

Ireland’s Brian Hayes, one of 45 substitute members, said he believes it could be good for Ireland in that it will make MEPs realise Ireland has made big changes to its tax policy while exposing the hypocrisy of other countries’ tax deals.

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