Irish Life & Permanent's chief executive, Mr David Went, has taken a deliberate swipe at the Government for imposing a €100 million annual levy on domestic banks, describing the charge as unjustified and discriminatory.In interim numbers released yesterday, Irish Life & Permanent said the levy had cost it €6.1 million in the first half and predicted that it would knock 4.5 cents off earnings per share over the full 12 months.

Mr Went said the payment was money that would "otherwise have been available to shareholders", thus implying that the levy was eating into the group's dividend payment.

He described the levy as a "very discriminatory tax", complaining that it had been applied only to banks with a deposit base in the Republic.

In a thinly veiled reference to Bank of Scotland, which operates in the Irish mortgage market but does not take deposits from customers in the Republic, he said it was unfair that "suitcase bankers" should escape the charge.

Mr Went went on to dismiss life companies that had complained about difficulties in selling Personal Retirement Savings Accounts (PRSAs) as "arrogant", describing their criticisms as "whingeing".

He said it was premature to dismiss PRSAs as a viable pensions alternative and called on competitors to "roll up their sleeves" and start selling.

Irish Life & Permanent has so far sold about 2,000 PRSAs and has been designated by 2,500 employers as their chosen provider of the products.

Mr Went estimated that the group holds about half of the overall PRSA market.