Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has told a pre-Ecofin briefing today there remains a question about whether European rescue funds are best placed to run Irish banks.

"There's a question, 'do you think a fund in Europe that is designed as a rescue fund are really the best people to run an Irish bank?'" Mr Noonan told the Oireachtas joint committee on finance, public expenditure and reform in Dublin this morning.

"Obviously, they have no experience in running a bank. We need to consider that as well. What kind of arrangements would there be?"

Mr Noonan said he is pushing for a deal on the Anglo Irish Bank promissory note before March 31st, any possible retrospective recapitalisation of the other banks will take longer.

"The Irish banks are fully recapitalised and they are recapitalised under stressed conditions," he said.

"Now when the Basel III regulations on bank recaps come in, that could change. But it's not going to change because of any new difficulties in the Irish banking system."

Bloomberg