The Dublin government on Thursday night nationalised Anglo Irish Bank, the Irish Republic’s third largest lender, which has seen the collapse of its share price accelerate in recent days amid fresh reports of large-scale deposit withdrawals.

The move, announced by Brian Lenihan, finance minister, ends attempts to keep the bank in private ownership. It was prompted by fears that the bank could be declared insolvent, which would trigger a state’s guarantee and leave the government responsible for settling close to €100bn of liabilities, including €50bn of customer deposits and €20bn of wholesale deposits.