UPDATE 2-Bank of Ireland signals pre-provision profit pressure

* Maintains loan impairment charge forecast issued in May

* Significant negative impact on net interest margin

* Shares down 2.4 percent

(Adds analyst quote, shares)

By Andras Gergely

DUBLIN, July 3 (Reuters) - Bank of Ireland (BKIR.I: Quote, Profile, Research) reported pressure on its margins which, if translated into lower operating profit, would weaken its ability to cushion billions of euros in expected loan impairment provisions.

Bank of Ireland also said on Friday it was sticking to a previous forecast for loan impairment charges of 6 billion euros ($8.5 billion) in the three years to March 2011, with continued downside risk if the economy fell deeper into recession.

Lower interest rates and more intense competition for deposits coupled with higher wholesale funding costs had a significant negative impact on net interest margin, it said.

"The key thing for Irish banks is they need to keep their pre-provision profits as high as possible to absorb the losses coming through on the bad loans and the haircuts they will have to take on the transfers to NAMA (Ireland's bad bank scheme)," said Oliver Gilvarry, head of research at Dolmen Securities.