Allied Irish, Indeed?

The Irish political elite is comprised of relatively recent, and thus particularly fervent, converts to neoliberalism. (Something similar applies to "Irish Catholicism" as generally understood - the way it was because no particularly large proportion of the Irish population was in any ordinary sense practising Catholic until just before the Potato Famine, with all its consequences both for domestic politics and for emigration.)

So that elite has decided that both Allied Irish and the Bank of Ireland must remain in private hands, come what may.

Or, at least, that the Irish Government must not rescue them.

But how about the purchase of one of them by HBOS (largely British Government-owned) and the other by RBS (overwhelmingly, no doubt soon entirely, British Government-owned)?

After all, neither HBOS nor RBS is English. Perish the thought.

It's just a suggestion...