The government has been under relentless pressure from the public and opposition parties for spending tens of billions of euros to bail out banks including top players Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Banks.

On Tuesday police officers used their batons to stop a group protesting against the bailout from breaking into parliament.

"Now is the time to show gratitude to Irish taxpayers for the massive sacrifices they have made .... after the arrogance, greed and reckless irresponsibility of our bankers that brought the country to her knees," Minister Batt O'Keeffe said in a statement.

The banks, five of which are also participating in an 81 billion euro ($103 billion) state "bad bank" scheme, have pledged to increase the supply of credit in return for the bailouts.

"If that is not happening - and the evidence so far suggests to me that in some cases it is not - then I want to know why," O'Keeffe said, adding that he would closely examine lending proposals from Allied Irish and Bank of Ireland in particular.

Irish banks have acknowledged their mistaken bet on the property sector had caused their problems.

Many in the industry also say however that it is wrong to focus only on the supply of credit as demand for loans also remains weak in the recession.

Earlier on Friday, bancassurer Irish Life & Permanent - which has not been bailed out - said demand for its loans had been falling further this year.