The only certainty with bailout is we will pay

THE focus on how much the new banking set up will cost the taxpayer is probably overdone.

Certainly the pickup in the share prices of AIB and Bank of Ireland since the rescue package was announced says those on the inside see this as a good deal for the banks and bad for the rest of us.

Whether the €54 billion paid to banks for dodgy property and land loans was over the top will in reality not be known until this process starts to wind down.