State rejects Ulster ‘bailout’ claim

The Government has rejected claims in a British newspaper that Ireland received a “back door bailout” from the UK to cover losses in Ulster Bank.

Yesterday’s London Times claimed that because the UK taxpayer had pumped £45bn (€53bn) into Royal Bank of Scotland and £10bn of this was used to cover losses in Ulster Bank, this was a de facto bailout of the Irish State.

“Capital injections into RBS to support Ulster Bank and losses elsewhere in the RBS group were presumably made in the best interests of the bank,” said a spokesperson for the Department of Finance.