Despite calls from AIB and Anglo Irish Bank for an extension of the bank guarantee scheme, Finance Minister Brian Lenihan has said he wants to see the banks off the guarantee as soon as possible.
In an interview with RTÉ News, he said there were elements of the guarantee that could be extended, and that discussions were underway with Europe about this. He also pointed out 16 other European countries had bank guarantee schemes.
On the decision of Bank of Scotland (Ireland) to pull out of the Irish market, Mr Lenihan said that there had been too much lending in the Irish economy, and the cost for any foreign bank pulling out would be met by the shareholders of that bank.
Read more on Bank of Scotland (Ireland) here
He also said that Bank of Ireland and AIB were providing €12 billion of credit to lend into the Irish economy.
On the potential rising cost of capital injections into Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide, he said that world markets were not concerned about the cost of the banking system to Ireland, and that was proven by the demand for Irish bonds from the NTMA earlier this week.
