Claim banks need bailout top-up sparks anger

Calls for bailed-out banks to be given more taxpayers’ money to top-up the €9.5bn already pumped into them to deal with the mortgage crisis have been greeted with outrage.

After former Anglo chief and ex-finance minister Alan Dukes warned that bankers needed extra State funds to cover debt forgiveness, senior figures expressed concern the money would disappear into the same “black hole” as most of the billions already advanced.

The Oireachtas finance committee is probing how the banks handle mortgage misery, and chairman Ciarán Lynch accused Mr Dukes of “going native”.