BAILED-OUT ALLIED Irish Banks (AIB) will today repay €1 billion in unsecured debt to senior bondholders.
In a move effectively financed by the State, the money will bring to more than €18 billion the amount that Irish banks have repaid to bondholders this year as a result of the bank guarantee introduced in 2008.
It is the last payment that is due to AIB, which is 99.8 per cent owned by the State, this year but there will be a number of other payments made to unsecured bondholders in State-0wned banks before the end of the year.
Another €2 billion is due to bondholders before the end of the year in Anglo Irish Bank, Bank of Ireland, EBS building society, and Irish Life and Permanent. A further €17 billion will be handed over next year.
Protesters from Sinn Féin and the Campaign against Household and Water Taxes are due to demonstrate against the bond repayment in Dublin later today.
Independent TD Stephen Donnelly, who has been heavily critical of bondholder repayments, has been handing out €1 billion notes at Dart stations in Dublin today in a bid to highlight the issue.
The notes, which were produced in conjunction graphic designer Con Kennedy, feature Finance Minister Michael Noonan on the front and a brief note explaining what is happening on the back:
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