What it says in the papers

IRISH TIMES

- The Irish Times leads with news that Barry Andrews has resigned as chief executive of Goal as the aid agency reels from a US investigation into its multi-million euro Syria operation. It says Andres told the board in August of his intention to step down as soon as a successor could be identified.

- The paper reports that childcare providers have warned that they may not be able to create the thousands of extra places likely to be required for children next September under plans announced in the Budget. It quotes the chief executive of Early Childhood Ireland as saying that it was difficult to see how the system would cope with the extra demand.

- In business, the paper reports that Lidl is expanding its footprint in south county Dublin by buying the largely vacant Shankill Shopping Centre from Bilaro, a company linked to Lithuanian billionaire Nerijus Numavicius, who paid about €6m for it in 2012.

- The Irish Times says the Central Bank's guide to funding regulations for 2016 shows that AIB, Bank of Ireland and Permanent TSB face having to pay an extra €6.5m between them this year to cover the cost of being regulated.

FINANCIAL TIMES

- The Financial Times leads with an analysis of EU accounts which indicates that Britain is facing a Brexit 'divorce bill' of up to €20 billion, a legacy of joint financial obligations stretching back decades that Brussels will insist Britain must honour.

- The FT says Tesco has pulled dozens of Unilever products - including Marmite and Ben & Jerry's ice cream - from sale online in an argument over who should bear the costs of a weakening sterling. The paper quotes supermarket group executives as saying that Unilever has demanded steep price increases.

- The paper says a number of senior pro-European Conservative Party MPs have criticised British Prime Minister Theresa May's tough recent Brexit stance, calling on her not to sacrifice the country's economy in order to clamp down on immigration.

- The FT says Japanese brewer Kirin is to acquire a 25 per cent stake in Brooklyn Brewery of the US, giving it the right to sell one of the US's foremost craft beers in thousands of pubs around Japan.

IRISH INDEPENDENT

- The Irish Independent leads with a report that Government ministers have been forced to waive a €12,000 pay hike following a huge public uproar over Budget 2017. The paper says Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe is to formally ask Cabinet colleagues in the coming weeks to forgo their pay restoration.

- The paper says Fianna Fáil is to demand a series of changes to the first-time buyers' grant announced in the Budget, including a cost-benefit analysis, arguing that the €600,000 threshold is "fairy-tale stuff".

- The Irish Independent carries an interview with WikiLeaks editor Sarah Harrison, who tells the paper it is not acting as a pro-Trump proxy for Vladimir Putin's Kremlin, and that the organisation has no editorial bias.

- The paper reports on tips from stockbrokers Davy and Goodbody, who think banks and builders will be the main winners from Michael Noonan's €1.3 billion Budget package, with the new help-to-buy scheme helping to underpin mortgage lending.

IRISH EXAMINER

- The Irish Examiner reports that outraged rural Fine Gael TDs "tore strips out of" Jobs Minister Mary Mitchell O'Connor at a party meeting last night after a presentation she gave backfired, with some of the TDs asking what she was doing about jobs in their regions.

- In business, the paper reports that operating profits at the Irish arm of cigarette firm PJ Carroll fell 20 per cent to €8.4m last year in the face of continuing competition from the black market. The Irish firm is a subsidiary of British-based British American Tobacco.

- The paper reports on figures obtained by Sinn Féin TD David Cullinane which show that Government spending on agency staff for acute hospitals has increased by more than 60 per cent since 2011, with more than €207m paid to such workers last year.