Irish to shrink, merge banks as part of bailout

Ireland's Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore speaks to the media outside Leinster House in Dublin, on Monday Nov. 22, 2010, where he gave his reaction to the the Green Party's call for a general election.
Ireland's Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore speaks to the media outside Leinster House in Dublin, on Monday Nov. 22, 2010, where he gave his reaction to the the Green Party's call for a general election.

— Ireland’s banks will be pruned down, merged or sold as part of a EU-IMF bailout taking shape, the government said Monday as the nation came to grips with its failure to protect and revive its banks.

Some experts say the rescue may have come too late to save the next weak link, Portugal, from a similar fate. Ireland’s crisis also appears likely to force a speedy change to its unpopular government, calling into doubt the credibility of Prime Minister Brian Cowen’s four-year austerity plans.

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