The Royal Bank of Scotland tried to give the State the portrait for two years.

Mr Dunne was adjudicated bankrupt by the Irish courts on foot of a 2013 petition by Ulster Bank which claimed he had defaulted on some €164 million loans.

Michael Lynn (55) was due to face a sentence hearing in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on Monday.

Former senior banker at Irish Nationwide told the multi-million euro trial of Michael Lynn that he never met the former solicitor

On Friday, former Permanent TSB commercial lending manager, John O'Brien, gave evidence in relation to an allegation that Mr Lynn stole €3.7 million from the institution in 2007.

Mr Lynn (55), of Millbrook Court, Redcross, Co Wicklow is on trial accused of the theft of around €27 million from seven financial institutions.

Michael Lynn (55) is accused of the theft of around €27 million from seven financial institutions

Michael Lynn (55) is on trial accused of the theft of around €27 million from seven financial institutions

Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris reiterated he believed Irish banks had been ‘laggards’ compared with European counterparts

The banking blunder stemmed from some tracker loans transferred from Ulster Bank

The High Court decision could have implications for other tracker mortgage customers.

Earlier this week, Ulster Bank lost a High Court appeal against findings that two borrowers were entitled to tracker mortgage refunds. This could lead to the lender paying compensation to thousands of other customers.

The High Court dismissed the appeal against two decisions made by the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman, which the lender said could affect thousands of its customers.

The judge said the couple had got into financial difficulties paying their mortgage due to ill health.

It is the latest part of the bank's phased withdrawal from the Irish market

As part of its withdrawal from the market, Ulster Bank had previously announced it was no longer accepting applications for mortgages from customers from June last year.

It comes as the bank is going to begin freezing 2,000 personal accounts a week from next week ahead of its withdrawal from Ireland.

The bank's branches in the Republic will cease transactional services on March 31st

Personal Insolvency Arrangement has been approved by the High Court for John Maloney a project manager with a development company, of Chestnut Haven, Ballyclough, Kilworth in Co Cork

Some 38% of KBC and Ulster Bank accounts have closed since the start of the year.

Governor Gabriel Makhlouf said that some people’s experiences of trying to switch ‘leaves something to be desired’.

NatWest group was hit by a €652 million loss in its Ulster Bank business

Ms Justice Bolger said she did not anticipate concluding her judgment in the "very near future", but she appreciated it was important she was expeditious in coming to her decision

Ulster Bank is challenging the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman's decision in three cases of borrowers who were excluded from tracker mortgage redress

Chosen branches will be open from 10am to 2pm on the first four Saturdays of October, including six locations in Cork, to support customers moving from Ulster Bank and KBC.

Bank of Ireland will open 61 of its branches on four Saturdays in October

The figures also show that over the same period businesses were conned out of an average of €14,000 due to invoice fraud.

Five main retail banks launch a new website, movingaccount.ie, to bring hundreds of thousands of people through the steps they need to take to sort out their bank accounts