The State has made a €1.2bn profit on the €4.8bn Bank of Ireland rescue and continues to hold a 14pc stake in the bank, he said.

The bank is now the biggest lender in Ireland, including accounting for 50pc of non property lending to small land medium enterprises (SMEs),

50pc of new lending into agriculture, 30pc of corporate banking, 25pc of savings products and one in three mortgages.

Bank of Ireland chief executive Richie Boucher was speaking at a hearing of the Oireachtas Finance Committee as part of its monitoring of the banking sector, it follows sessions earlier in the year when the heads of each of the main banks were grilled on their response to the mortgage crisis.

The Committee will hold similar sessions next week with senior executives from Permanent TSB, Ulster Bank and AIB.

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