Stress tested Irish banks need a further £21bn

The final bill for bailing out Ireland's banks will be €70 billion (£61bn) after stress tests by the central bank in Dublin detailed that four institutions need another €24bn.

Central bank governor Patrick Honohan said Allied Irish Banks (AIB) needs €13.3bn while Bank of Ireland needs €5.2bn in further recapitalisation.

Building society EBS requires €1.5bn while Irish Life and Permanent needs a further €4bn, he announced last night.

The central bank said it wanted to put the banks in a position where they can fund themselves and generate cash without having to call on citizens to cover the bill.

The €70bn identified includes €46bn already promised since the bank guarantee scheme was devised late one night in September 2008.

Finance minister Michael Noonan announced that the government would reduce the number of domestic banks to two new "universal pillar banks".

AIB - once the country's biggest bank - will be combined with the EBS building society.

Bank of Ireland will form the first pillar of the new banking system but will be forced to sell off €30bn of assets by 2013.

Irish Life & Permanent will be forced to sell its lucrative pensions division Irish Life.