EU fund to repay bank debt to taxpayer

Irish taxpayers are in line to get back some of the €32bn they poured into the banks after EU finance ministers agreed to speed up the creation of a banking union that would recapitalise troubled lenders.

The ministers also agreed to push out the €40bn EU bailout loan for another seven years to help spread more evenly repayments of the country’s massive debt.

Department of Finance officials said yesterday it “was one of the better days in our programme” as the finance ministers met in Dublin Castle.