A curious absence from the 50-plus documents published by the Dáil's Public Accounts Committee in the run-up to the government's blanket deposit guarantee in September 2008, is the relatively small amount of time spent by officials on the problems at AIB and Bank of Ireland. By contrast, a huge amount of energy was given over to resolving the crisis facing Irish Nationwide Building Society.

The building society, run for more than a generation by Michael Fingleton, was the subject of frantic discussions in September 2008. Its then chairman, Michael Walsh, was so concerned about its potential collapse that he pleaded in a letter to the then secretary-general of the Department of Finance, David Doyle, for assistance.

The department had been well aware of the building society's problems for some time – its financial advisers had warned that it was facing a liquidity crunch by the end of September 2008. Draft legislation was prepared in the event the building society would have to be nationalised – the department also feared some of its 180,000 members would end up queuing outside its offices on Merrion Street.

In the end, the guarantee staved off the need to immediately take control of the company. But Nama's revelation last week of how much it was paying for the second tranche of property loans shows just how toxic Irish Nationwide had become. Yet the society's advisers had stated in 2008 that there was some "real value" in its loans.

The €591m of loans transferred saw the building society receive just €163m of Nama bonds in return – a discount on the loans' book value of just over 72%. That was up significantly on the 58% haircut it took on the first tranche, and well above the average haircut of 48% across all banks in the second transfer of loans.

It's not yet clear whether the €2.7bn of taxpayers' money it has received to offset those Nama losses will be sufficient by the time all its loans are transferred. According to analysts, the haircuts on its loans can only creep higher as the quality of the loans and their accompanying documentation will inevitable decline in subsequent transfers to Nama. Around four-fifths of all of Irish Nationwide's loans are going to Nama.

However, there are just a few options to prevent Irish Nationwide becoming a mini-Anglo Irish Bank.

As part of the government's capital injection, a restructuring plan has been drawn up by the lender's new management, led by chief executive Gerry McGinn and chairman Danny Kitchen, and sent to the European Commission.

In a best-case scenario, a buyer would be found for the remnants of the building society. Finance minister Brian Lenihan said in March that Irish Nationwide "does not have a future as an independent stand-alone entity", and he envisaged a "swift sale" to another bank. Once the Nama loans are stripped out, the remaining assets are about €2bn in mortgages and €4bn in customer deposits.

Buyers for Irish Nationwide have been slow to emerge. While its roots may have been in mortgage-lending, it has been some years since it was competitive in the home loans' market.

And those who have had mortgages with Irish Nationwide will well remember its treatment of customers over the years – especially those who were forced onto penalty interest rates after falling behind in repayments. Remember also the pursuit of elderly widow Eileen Malone all the way to the Supreme Court to take possession of her home.

Its attractiveness to any possible buyer may rest on its branch network and its still healthy deposit book. According to one analyst, who asked not to be named, its hopes for the future may rest in joining in the so-called third force at some point. Talks on a merger with EBS began last December and while a deal to merge the two was expected in the spring, the merger was scuppered as the full picture of the problems at both institutions was revealed.

EBS, which requires nearly €900m in capital, is in takeover talks with Irish Life & Permanent and three private equity groups. Analysts have repeatedly stressed that a combination of Irish Nationwide, EBS and Irish Life would create a banking force to rival AIB and Bank of Ireland.

Both the Department of Finance and Irish Nationwide's plans for the future, though, depend on the European Commission deciding not to demand a wind-up of the building society. No figures have been disclosed as to how much this would cost. Irish Nationwide felt confident enough of its future last month to give its 400 employees a guarantee that if it seeks any job cuts they will have been agreed voluntarily and with their union, the Irish Bank Officials Association.

Irish Nationwide will be in business 137 years in October – it began life as the Irish Industrial Benefit in 1873. Whatever the decision of the European Commission, its days as a standalone company are over.