PRESS DIGEST - Ireland - Dec 23

DUBLIN, Dec 23 (Reuters) - These are some of the leading
stories in Ireland's newspapers on Wednesday. Reuters has not
verified these stories and cannot vouch for their accuracy:

THE IRISH TIMES

- The banks should be able to determine what additional
capital they will need in the first quarter of next year after
they transfer their largest development loans to the National
Asset Management Agency (NAMA), according to the Department of
Finance.

- Average weekly wages have fallen 1.1 percent in the year
to the end of June 2009, according to new data from the Central
Statistics Office.

- More than 26,000 homeowners are in mortgage arrears for at
least three months, almost double the number recorded over a
year ago.

IRISH INDEPENDENT

- A second Catholic bishop named in the shocking Murphy
Report into cover-ups of clerical child sexual abuse in the
archdiocese of Dublin is expected to announce his resignation
today.

- Liam Adams, the brother of Sinn Fein president Gerry
Adams, wanted in connection with allegations of child sex abuse,
has walked into a garda station to present himself to the
authorities.

- Public sector unions will escalate a planned campaign of
industrial action in February to try to force the Government to
reverse the public sector pay cuts.

IRISH EXAMINER

- Irish Nationwide Building Society has launched an
investigation into revelations its former chief executive
Michael Fingleton fast-tracked loans to Fianna Fail politicians
and European Commissioner Charlie McCreevy.

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