Irish banks

The Central Bank Governor Dr. Patrick Honohan, said today that Irish banks can look forward to a solid financial future.

He was speaking in Dublin at a conference on financial innovation and said the banks will emerge from the financial crisis with their capital bases repaired and in condition to attract private investment.

He said: "The Irish banks are going to leave this situation well capitalised and solid with adequate capital to convince the market that they are going ahead on their own steam."

He forecast that Irish banks will be so strong that there would be private capital "scrambling"' into them.

Honohan also said there would be more capital injections into the banks early next year, but did not say whether this would come from private or State sources.

INM

Independent News and Media announced today that it has raised €150 million this year through disposals, following the completion of the sale of its 49% interest in Verivox Holdings Limited.

The transaction will generate gross cash proceeds of €18.3 million. Initial net proceeds will be approximately €16 million, to pay down senior debt.

Verivox, which is a German online price comparison service for energy and telecom services, has been sold to VVX Investments, a wholly owned subsidiary of Oakley Capital Private Equity.

In a statement to the Irish Stock Exchange today, the company said that its disposal strategy and restructuring allows the group to retain the global diversity and strong multi-media mix of the group.

INM said the strategy would also provide a stable and secure financial platform, with a combined €350 million reduction in debt, from which to leverage its businesses as economic conditions recover.

Use of high-speed and mobile broadband increases

The CSO said today that in 2009, 95% of all enterprises had a computer connected to the internet while 66% had a website or homepage.

Access to the internet using broadband remained high in 2009 with 84% of all enterprises having a broadband connection. High-speed DSL broadband was used by 45% of enterprises compared with 41% in 2008. The use of mobile broadband reached a level of 27% in 2009 compared with 24% in 2008.

As a consequence there has been a decline in the use of lower-speed DSL broadband and other fixed connections (e.g. cable, leased line etc).

These results are based on the survey of e-Commerce and ICT usage by enterprises, which was conducted in the first half of 2009. This survey covers enterprises with 10 or more employees in the manufacturing and selected services sectors and with 20 or more employees in the construction sector.

"Thousands of individual scientists and institutions from around the world have come together over the last year and have definitively concluded that we are facing climate change," Jules Kortenhorst, CEO of European Climate Foundation, told CNBC Monday: