How about all depositors, whatever their nationality, get saved up to a certain amount (say 100k to be ridiculously generous). Then you save as many of the rest as you can in some order that derives from whatever your strategic bargaining plan is as Jake outlined.

The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom - William Blake

And now you have this cunning plan that foreign holders of Irish government bonds are unworthy and  domestic holders are worthy.

Far from it! I advocate and support claw-backs from all involved in this debacle. Every cent obtained by executives and board members and all income received by politicians and regulators regardless of how it has been sequestered in property, trusts, etc. This should apply to all profiting from these banks, Irish, British, German, etc.

We need to return private banking to the days of unlimited personal responsibility of the bankers for the solvency of their institutions. The state can clean up damage to others, but should see that the full burden of fiascoes fall on the bankers themselves. Current policy is the exact opposite. That is the core problem.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."