Representatives of five taxi unions and Dublin Airport Authority are holding talks around now in a bid to resolve a wildcat strike which is in its second day.

The strike began yesterday after the DAA announced its to reduce the size of the overflow area for taxis from 170 spaces to 100.

Drivers pay over 440 euro a year to use these spaces – and want all of them to be reinstated.

And President of Irish Taxi Drivers Federation, John Usher, says he’s hopeful a resolution can be reached this evening.

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/> Greenstar customer waste collection services will continue as normal – despite the business being put into receivership.
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/> The company employs over 800 people around the country.

Greenstar says its disappointed at the unexpected move sought by its bank lenders – without any prior indication or notice.

Fergal O’Brien reports:

The Government is being urged to do more to help people who are in difficulty with their mortgages.
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/> It follows new figures from the Central Bank today which show that an additonal 5 and a half thousand home loans slipped into arrears of more then 90 days since the end of March.

It means 10.9 per cent of residential mortgages are now in arrears of 90 days or more – compared to 10.2 percent during the first quarter of the year.

However, the Free Legal Advice Centre says the arrears problem is worse than the figures suggest, because “restructured” mortgages are not factored in.

Director of FLAC, is Noeleen Blackwell:

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/> Ireland has moved another step closer towards a full return to the bond markets next year.

It’s after the National Treasury Management Agency today sold more then a billion euro worth of Irish Amortising Bonds to the markets.

These types of bonds are designed and issued to meet the needs of the Irish pensions industry – and it’s believed they were bought by mostly domestic investors.

The Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has welcomed the successful sale by the NTMA and says it “represents another important step on our return to market funding.”

/> An investigation’s underway in the UK after a stowaway’s body was found in the landing gear of a jumbo jet that touched down in Heathrow airport this morning.

Police say the dead man was not a member of the British Airways crew or a passenger on the flight that arrived from Cape Town, South Africa.

According to reports, a man was spotted scaling a fence at Cape Town International Airport as the BA flight was getting ready for take off.