‘Almost impossible’ to get refund on bank bailout

Ireland recouping the money it put into its failing banks is a near impossibility as the rules on bank recapitalisation are finalised, a top EU official has admitted.

While the phrase insisted on by Taoiseach Enda Kenny two years ago about banks being recapitalised on a “case by case basis” still stands in the new rule book, it is virtually impossible that it could apply to Ireland.

It would be like trying to unscramble eggs, said one expert who has been very close to the whole process of creating the new banking rules.