PRESS DIGEST - Ireland - July 2

DUBLIN, July 2 (Reuters) - These are some of the leading
stories in Ireland's newspapers on Thursday. Reuters has not
verified these stories and cannot vouch for their accuracy:

THE IRISH TIMES

- Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Brian Cowen has accepted the
number of people out of work will pass the half million mark by
the end of the year and could rise even higher next year.

- Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern is to cut proposed fines
for blasphemy from 100,000 euros to 25,000 euros, under changes
to be made to the Defamation Act next week.

IRISH INDEPENDENT

- Non-national dole cheats defrauded millions of euro from
the exchequer by flying into the country once a month to sign
on.

- A new deal between Elan's (ELN.I) research partner Biogen
(BIIB.O) and fellow drug developer Acorda will result in a 7.7
million euro windfall for the Irish company.

IRISH EXAMINER

- Irish pension funds finally saw an upturn in fortunes in
the second quarter of the year, by showing combined returns of
11.4 percent between 5 billion euros and 6 billion euros
according to latest figures.
- Management at financial services group IFG (IFG.I) said
yesterday that they remained confident the business would meet
previously stated full-year targets of between 18 cents and 20
cents in terms of earnings per share for this year.

Looking for more information from local sources? Reuters
Business Briefing has five Irish sources including Irish Times.
For details of the product please call your local help desk
<PHONE/HELP>.