A timeline of events
2008
SEPT 30th: Government introduces the bank guarantee covering liabilities of €440 billion across the Irish banks and building societies – Allied Irish Banks, Bank of Ireland, Anglo Irish Bank, Irish Life Permanent, the Educational Building Society and Irish Nationwide Building Society.
DEC 21st: Government agrees to inject €5.5 billion into the three main banks – Allied Irish Banks, Bank of Ireland and Anglo Irish Bank – but no funds are provided.
2009
JAN 15th – Anglo nationalised.
FEB 12th – In the first bailout of the banks, the Government decides to inject €3.5 billion each into AIB and Bank of Ireland in return for indirect 25 per cent stakes through preference shares in the banks.
MARCH 30th – Ireland loses its top AAA credit rating from ratings agency Standard and Poor’s.
APRIL 8th – Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan unveils emergency budget– the second budget in six months – and announces €10.6 billion in spending cuts and €3.25 billion in tax increases for 2010-11.
APRIL 9th – Lenihan announces the creation of the National Asset Management Agency, saying it will take €80 billion to €90 billion in loans of the banking system but doesn't say how much it will pay.
MAY 29th – Government injects €4 billion in cash into Anglo.
SEPT 16th – Nama says that it will apply a 30 per cent discount or "haircut" on €77 billion of loans that it will acquire from five lenders.
DEC 9th – The budget delivers savings of more than €4 billion, slashing public pay and welfare to try to halt soaring deficit.
2010
MARCH 30th – Second bailout of the banks announced amounting to €32 billion, most of which will be provided by the Government. Anglo accounts for €22 billion as Nama applies a higher haircut on the loans, averaging 47 per cent. Nama starts taking the first loans – about €9 billion – from the banks.
JULY 19th – Moody's cuts Ireland's credit rating by one notch to AA2, saying the country faces a slow climb out of recession as the cost of rescuing the banks mounts.
AUG 25th – Standard and Poors cuts Irelands long-term rating by one notch to AA – and says there could be a further downgrade, a move by the State's debt management agency, the National Treasury Management Agency.
SEPT 29th – The Government's blanket bank guarantee ends and about €25 billion of bank debt falls due – a large part of this is repaid with discounted loans coming from the European Central Bank (right, president of the ECB, Jean-Claude Trichet).
SEPT 30th – The Government announces the third bailout of the banks, saying that in a worst-case scenario, the lenders will require more than €50 billion in capital, as the average Nama haircut rises to 58 per cent on a reduced number of loans (€73 billion) to be acquired inflicting heavier losses on the banks. The Government says it will have to seek further budget changes to pay for the bailout.
OCT 6th – Rating agency Fitch cuts Ireland's credit rating to A+ from AA-, citing the huge cost of cleaning up its banks.
OCT 29th – Central Bank says Irish bank reliance on ECB borrowing grew by €23 billion, reflecting the pressure on the funding of the Irish banks. Borrowing by Irish banks, including international banks in Ireland, rises to €130 billion at the end of October. A further €34 billion is provided by the Central Bank through emergency liquidity fund.
NOV 3rd – Government bows to pressure to hold a byelection in Donegal South West on November 25th.
NOV 8th - EU Economics Commissioner Olli Rehn, visiting Ireland, says he has not discussed any need for an EU bailout, adding he believes market confidence would be restored once four-year plan to cut borrowings is published.
NOV 12th – Bank of Ireland says it lost €10 billion in deposits over August and September.
NOV 16th – Euro zone finance ministers agree to lay the groundwork for bailing out Ireland's banking sector with the IMF, but say the Government has to decide itself whether to request the aid. It agreed to let EU, IMF and European Central Bank technical experts visit Ireland to look at how to deal with its banking problems.
NOV 19th – AIB says it lost €13 billion in deposits since the start of the year – €12 billion since June.
NOV 21st – The Government requests EU financial aid as the loan programme will safeguard the euro zone's financial stability.
NOV 22nd – EU and IMF officials begin working out details of the rescue package. The Greens say it will support the Government until the budget is passed and the EU-IMF bailout is in place, but will then leave the Government leading to a general election.
NOV 24th – Ireland reveals a €15 billion four-year austerity plan – €10 billion in spending cuts and €5 billion in tax increases – to help pay for a bank crisis and meet the terms of an EU/IMF rescue. The plan includes 25,000 public sector job cuts , phased increases in VAT rates and social welfare savings of €2.8 billion euros by 2014.
NOV 25th – Byelection held in Donegal South West. Sinn Fein's Pearse Doherty takes seat, cutting Government's majority to two. Fianna Fáil's vote falls from 51 to 21 per cent.
NOV 26th – Anglo Irish Bank says that it lost about €12 billion in deposits since the start of the year.
NOV 27th – Government agrees to proceed with EU-IMF bailout and authorises Lenihan to finalise negotiations at a meeting of EU finance ministers in Brussels.
YESTERDAY– Negotiations between European Commission, the ECB and the IMF conclude. EU finance ministers sign off on a €85 billion rescue for Ireland. Central Bank announces the fourth bailout of the banks.