As pressure mounted, the Irish government said it may extend the scheme to foreign banks with retail units in Ireland and that applications would be considered on a case-by-case basis.

In an editorial on Thursday, the London-based Financial Times accused Ireland of "economic nationalism".

"The government has behaved anti-competitively and the protection it is offering could even destabilise other banks," it said.

The multinational corporation is ultimately dependent on their country of origin.  There is no Free Dollarstan.

And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg