Emergency loans from the Irish central bank also fell a touch to 39.8 billion euros. Under a plan agreed with the ECB on Thursday, Dublin will not have to tap such exceptional liquidity assistance (ELA) funding in future.

Ireland's viable banks remain heavily dependent on emergency funding to run day-to-day, but have trimmed that reliance from a high of 187 billion euros in February 2011 by shrinking balance sheets and making a tentative return to capital markets.