Dublin's ISEQ closed down 2.6%, or 62 points, at 2,369. Shares in Anglo Irish Bank fell almost 15%, and are down 4.7 cent to 27 cent after today's resignation of chief executive David Drumm and last night's resignation of chairman Sean FitzPatrick in a controversy over inappropriate loans.
AIB and Bank of Ireland are both down over 6%, with AIB down 11 cent to €1.65 and Bank of Ireland down 5 cent to 71 cent.
Major European markets also closed lower today. London's FTSE was down 1% (44 points) to 4,287, with mining companies showing losses as oil prices hit lows last seen in 2004. In Paris, the CAC was down 8 points, at 3,226, while the Frankfurt DAX was 60 points down at 4,697.
Wall Street markets are showing gains, following the White House announcement that the US government is to provide the country's struggling car makers with $13.4 billion in short-term loans to avert a collapse.
The Dow Jones is up almost 7 points to 8,611, while the Nasdaq is 16 points higher at 1,569.
Earlier, Tokyo's Nikkei index closed down 0.9% at 8,589 despite the Bank of Japan's decision to lower interest rates to almost zero. The Hang Seng closed down more than 2% at 15,128.
