€50bn bank bill will lead to savage cuts and tax hikes

THE €50 billion hit of the bank bailout left Ireland braced for deeper cuts and rising taxes as Black Thursday blighted the nation’s finances for a decade.

As Brian Lenihan insisted the country had hit “rock bottom” the Finance Minister warned that December’s austerity budget would now be “significantly” harsher than feared – pushing the cuts needed well above the €3bn already indicated and risking the collapse of Brian Cowen’s increasingly fragile administration.

Taxes looked set to soar as Mr Lenihan revealed what he promised would be the final cost of keeping zombie bank Anglo Irish Bank alive and stepping in to shore-up other financial institutions.