Halifax Ireland have dropped some more the rates on a few of their deposit accounts.
Earlier in the week they reduced the rate on the 12 month Fixed Rate account to 4.5%. Today – Halifax announced reductions as follows.

The Flexi Saver account now has a rate of 4% – it was previously 5.15%
The Regular Saver account interest rate is now 4.5% – down from 7%

See our list of all the best Instant Access Rates

See our list of all the best Regular Saver Rates

Interest rates available on One Year Fixed rate savings accounts in Ireland have started to fall.
Halifax is the latest bank to drop rates on their 12 month Fixed Saver account. The rate has dropped to 4.5% from 5.6%. Anglo Irish also dropped rates from 6% to 5.25%.  With ECB rates dropping to just 2% last week – more fixed rate cuts could be on the way. With instant access account rates lower and also expected to fall  further – now could be the last chance to get a decent fixed rate.
But – with all the problems banks are having – some people may feel safer putting the money in a safe.

See Best Instant Access Rates

See Best 12 Month Fixed rates 

Sterling rose slightly higher against the Euro following the European Central Bank’s decision to reduce interest rates to 2.0% yesterday.  The pound was worth  €1.1214  at close of play yesterday   – it started the day at €1.11.07 Euro .
Bank of Ireland are predicting  that Sterling will remain in the region of £0.90/ €, although in the second half of 2009 they predict that sterling will  rise to around  £0.80 pence  to the Euro.
If the Pound does strengthen later in the year – now could be a good time to exchange Euros into Sterling. If you are planning a large purchase in the UK – maybe a car or even a property – you could convert your Euros to Pounds while the exchange rates are still fairly favourable.
Currency Brokers will typically save you money on foreign exchange amounts  over €5000.
One such Currency Broker is Currency Solutions - based in the UK.

Another foreign exchange specialist company  to try is  Currency UK

Both of these companies are registered with the UK HM Revenue & Customs as Money Service Businesses.
They can both give you better rates than your own bank and will not charge comission. You will of course need to have a Sterling bank account available  to transfer the money into.
If you have a large amount of currency to exchange  – check with your bank first how much Sterling you would get for your Euro lump sum (remember to deduct commission and any transfer fees etc). Then get quotes from the websites mentioned above . You could save over 1% on a transaction – which could amount to more than €1000 on a 100k transaction. Not an amount to be ignored.

Anglo Irish Bank yesterday had an interesting press release – which appeared to be launching a new product – but in fact it is just announcing  drop in the existing rates on the 6 and 12 month fixed rate deposits.
The  1 year fixed term deposit account will get a rate of 5.25% (was 6%) . The new rate for  6 month fixed term deposit accounts is  4.5%  (previously 5.35%) .
The lower rates are effective  from next Tuesday January 20th 2009. (even though the web site statement says 2008 !)

Commenting on the new offer, Derek Keogh – Head of Personal Savings at Anglo Irish Bank in Ireland, said: “Yet again, we are leading the competition when it comes to value for money for savings and consistently delivering simple competitive products. There are billions of savings out there earning little or no interest and we have always been there to provide an alternative.”

No mention of dodgy loans to directors!

The sudden announcement from the government late yesterday – that Anglo Irish was being nationalised – may mean more changes to rates in the near future. Investors may well be wary of depositing cash with Anlo Irish – even though thay are covered by the Irish government guarantee.

As expected – the ECB cut interest rates today by 0.5% . The cut means that rates are now at just 2%. The new rate comes into effect on Jan 21st 2009. The cut was widely predicted by economists, and followed the Bank of England’s decision last week to reduce rates by half a percentage point to 1.5pc – the lowest ever level in the UK. Economists are predicting further rate cuts to follow in the eurozone.

The ECB had been considered to be less willing than other central banks, including the Bank of England and the US Federal Reserve, to cut rates, but recent bad economic figures are  likely to have prompted today’s decision.

The chief executive of the financial regulator, Pat Neary, announced his decision last night to retire early over the handling of the regulator’s investigation into the €87 million in secret directors’ loans at Anglo Irish Bank.

An internal investigation by a committee of the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority found that there had been a breakdown in internal communication and process within the regulator’s office, following the discovery of the hidden loans to Anglo’s former chairman Seán FitzPatrick in January 2008.

Mr FitzPatrick had, over an eight-year period, transferred the loans off Anglo’s books to Irish Nationwide Building Society before the bank’s year-end on September 30th and moved them back afterwards to avoid them being publicly disclosed.

Mr Neary said in a statement that he was unaware of the loans until they were raised with him by Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan last month. “So far as I am concerned, I was not advised of any such matters in early 2008 and there has been no oral, written or e-mail escalation of these issues to me or to the authority over the period until the matter was raised with me by the Minister on 10th December, 2008,” he said.

Many people have called for Mr Neary to resign or be removed from the job. Early retirement still means he will no longer be in office – but it probably means he will keep any pensions and benefits associated with the job.

The new income levy came into effect in Ireland on 1 January 2009 and is payable on gross income.  Updated – See Income Levy 2010 Rates Here

The rate of the levy when introduced was  1% on income up to €100,100 pa; 2% on income between €100,101 and €250,120 pa; 3% on income in excess of €250,120 pa.

You will pay the income levy unless:

• Your income is less than €18,304 a year
• You are aged over 65 and your annual income is less than €20,000 for a single individual or €40,000 for a married couple You have a medical card

Certain income is exempt from the income levy:

• all social welfare payments, including social welfare payments received from abroad
• payments that are made in lieu of social welfare payments such as Community Employment Schemes or Back to Education Allowance
• income subjected to DIRT

Employers are responsible for deducting the income levy from their employees’ salaries.
Self-employed individuals will make a payment of income levy along with their preliminary tax payment, and any balance will be collected when the final assessment issues.

Anyone in Ireland can get a Free landline connection from Eircom if you sign up before end of August 2009 .  This free offer applies to all connections – even those where there has not been a telephone line previously (i.e in a new house). The connection fees from Eircom can be as much as €121 Euro – for a new connection .

Visit the Eircom website to find out more . .