Pay-back time for ICI bale-out

IS it naive to think AIB, which has just returned the biggest profits ever

Sensationally at the time, massive losses in ICI, the insurance arm of AIB, threatened the whole banking industry.

The government of the day, a Fine Gael-Labour coalition under Dr Garret Fitzgerald, used taxpayers’ money to buy ICI lock, stock and barrel, including liabilities of £267m.