Noonan: Time to remove bank guarantee

It was one of the most controversial pieces of legislation in the country’s history, a State guarantee of the banking system that forced the Government into a humiliating EU/IMF bailout.

The cost to the exchequer of rescuing the banks eventually soared to €64bn, but Finance Minister Michael Noonan last night pledged that the country’s banking system was now on the way to normalisation and did not need the State’s aid.

He signposted 12am on Mar 28 — the eve of Good Friday — as the cut-off point, declaring: “The ending of the guarantee for new liabilities marks another step forward.”