Taxpayers ‘will not have to pay for bad debts’

TAXPAYERS will be protected from having to cough up for unpaid loans and bad debts owed to Anglo Irish Bank when it goes into public ownership, the Government assured yesterday.

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan insisted that when the process of nationalisation is completed “the clear priority for us is to collect the debts”.

He said: “What the Irish taxpayer has bought is a bank that has assets in excess of liabilities of more than €4 billion, that’s the position that has been confirmed.”