Irish taxpayers tell rescued banks that it's payback time

Dublin

FOR the Irish taxpayers who rescued banks after they sank the economy, it's payback time.

The government last week hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc to advise on how to recoup Allied Irish Banks plc's (AIB) 21 billion-euro (S$32 billion) bailout as part of a strategy that could help push Ireland's debt back below the euro region's average.

"Banks are turning into a positive story, having been the source of so much concern in recent years," said Anders Moller Lumholtz, an analyst with Danske Bank A/S in Copenhagen. "We estimate Ireland will raise 20 billion euros selling bank investments between now and the end of the decade."

Recovering the aid will be a boost to the government as it heads toward elections within 18 months. Ireland had to rescue its banks after the worst real estate bust in western Europe, injecting about 64 billion euros into the financial system. Finance Minister Michael Noonan said on Monday that AIB is a "valuable" asset, as he praised departing…