THE LONG AWAITED stress tests on Irish banks will be published by the government today which will determine how much of the €35 billion bank bailout fund the country’s financial institutions will need.

The expectation is that three Irish banks will need €9 billion in new capital between them.

It is also anticipated that the results are expected to set the scene for a major restructuring of the Irish banking system with the nationalisation of Irish Life & Permanent (IL&P) and Bank of Ireland.

Bank of Ireland will need as much as €5 billion, IL&P will require more than €3 billion and EBS will need about €1 billion according to Bloomberg.

The results will be published by the governor of the Irish Central Bank Patrick Honohan at around 4.30pm today after which Finance Minister Michael Noonan will address the Dáil.

Statements are also expected from the European Union and International Monetary Fund who provided the €85 billion bailout fund last year.

Ahead of the results’ publication, trading on shares in Bank of Ireland and AIB were suspended for 24 hours in anticipation “in order to avoid the possibility of a disorderly market due to the circulation of information or rumours during the day,” reports the Irish Independent.

Ahead of the stress test findings it was revealed today that Anglo Irish Bank made losses of €17.5 billion for last year.

These are the worst set of results for any business in Irish corporate history.