Irish government faces growing fears of debt default.

Fears are growing that Ireland could default on its national debt after the cost to insure against possible losses on loans to the country rose to record highs at the end of last week.

Credit ratings agency Moody&#8217-s recently followed rival Standard &amp- Poor&#8217-s in warning it might downgrade Irish debt, amid fears that one of Europe&#8217-s former success stories is falling into a deepening recession. […]

Ireland last week announced an additional €7bn (?6.3bn) injection into its top banks, Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Banks, which are suffering from an increase in bad loans.