“reckless lending” by international banks to Irish banks contributed to their collapse, the Irish government has sai

European authorities should share the cost of Ireland’s €63bn ($84bn) bank bail-out because “reckless lending” by international banks to Irish banks contributed to their collapse, the Irish government has said.

Michael Noonan, Ireland’s finance minister, gave warning on Wednesday that the huge cost of bailing out Irish banks with taxpayers money was driving up national debt and posing a risk to the country’s economic recovery.

“We as a country have borne a disproportionate share of protecting the European banking system by the actions we took,” said Mr Noonan in a briefing to European journalists.

Ireland faces a €63bn bill for recapitalising its main banks, which have all required state bail-outs to cope with a property crash and banking crisis. The cost of the banking bail-out forced the previous government to turn to the European Union and International Monetary Fund for a €85bn bail-out last year.

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