Noonan: Banks will have €30bn to lend

IRELAND’S pillar banks — Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Bank/EBS — will have €30 billion to lend to Irish businesses over the next three years, Finance Minister Michael Noonan told the Dáil yesterday.

Mr Noonan disclosed that deposits held at Bank of Ireland and AIB “improved significantly” since last Thursday’s bank restructuring and recapitalisation programmes were announced by the Government and the Central Bank.

He added their three main objectives — to restore confidence in the banking system and the economy; to recapitalise and restructure the banks and to restore credit to the economy — are being fulfilled.