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[OMEN]

Taoiseach Brian Cowen has insisted that its 'business as usual' at Anglo Irish Bank and that people should now be reassured that the institution is solvent.

Yesterday evening, the Government announced plans to take complete control of Anglo Irish Bank, saying its previous plan to inject money into the bank is not the best way to secure its viability.

Shares in Anglo Irish Bank have been suspended this morning on the Irish Stock Exchange and on the London Stock Exchange.
An extraordinary general meeting of the bank's shareholders in Dublin this morning will open at 10am and is then expected to be adjourned.

Shares in the three Irish banking stocks were mixed this morning.

Shares in AIB were down 12% to €1.70 in, Bank of Ireland lost 10% to stand at 81c.

Irish Life and Permanent reversed its earlier losses to stand over 3% higher at was unchanged at €2.33.

But overall, the Dublin market was up almost 0.5%.

Speaking today in Tokyo after meeting Emperor Akihito, Mr Cowen said that since Christmas the market had continued to lose confidence in Anglo Irish Bank after corporate governance issues had affected its reputation and it was against this background that the decision had been taken.

Mr Cowen says the bank is 'in good stead and is solvent'.

Asked if the Government had a full picture of potential bad debts, Mr Cowen said consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers had been conducting an assessment of that and the Chairman and board would now be working with the Government to run the bank.

Referring to the corporate governance issues, which had helped to bring about this situation he said the controversial loans to Sean Fitzpatrick, which the former chairman had tried to hide would be treated like any other debt to the bank.

However Opposition parties have claimed the Government's banking policy is in ruins.

The legislation is expected to be brought before the Oireachtas on Tuesday.

The Government is likely to want the draft legislation, which runs to 38 pages, passed in a single day.

The European Commission has said the Government had given it prior notification of the nationalisation of the bank and it was not aware at this stage whether it would breach EU competition rules.

Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan told EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes of the plan last night, an EU competition spokesman said.

'We will be looking at the terms and conditions of the transaction in coming days to see if there are elements of state aid. We are not aware of the details at this stage,' he said.

RTE

[OMEN]

Nine people were injured following a two-car collision at a roundabout on the outskirts of Galway city early this morning.

Three units of Galway fire brigade and four ambulances attended the scene of the accident at Doughiska.

All nine were brought to hospital, but it's understood their injuries are not life-threatening.

RTE

[OMEN]

The pilot of the US Airways jet that crashed into icy waters off New York has been hailed as a hero after overseeing the escape of 155 passengers and crew.

Identified by US media as 57-year-old Chesley Sullenberger III the former fighter pilot was praised by survivors and officials for smoothly landing the jet belly-first onto the Hudson River.

The soft landing allowed passengers to successfully evacuate from the stricken craft and saw Mr Sullenberger swiftly dubbed 'The Hero of the Hudson.'
It would appear that the pilot did a masterful job of landing the plane in the river, and then making sure that everybody got out,' New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

'I had a long conversation with the pilot. He walked the plane twice after everybody else was off. And tried to verify that there was nobody else onboard. And assures us there were not.

'The first and most important thing is, this pilot did a wonderful job, and it would appear that all roughly 155, including crew and one infant, got out safely,' Mr Bloomberg said.

New York Governor David Paterson added: 'We've had a miracle on the Hudson.'

The Airbus A320 was forced to make a watery crash-landing after taking off on its flight from New York to Charlotte, North Carolina.

Officials suspect the plane was forced to crash land after slamming into a flock of geese, damaging both engines.

RTE