Banks are still having trouble raising funding on anything like a reliable basis, despite the government guarantee. Fundraising has been limited to short-term instruments and ECB fall-back facilities, rather than the long-term bonds they need.

The purpose of the guarantee scheme was to get money moving through the system again. It appears to have worked for retail deposits, but corporate deposits are a different story. Tens of billions flowed out of Ireland in September – much of which came back within weeks of the guarantee – but the market remained volatile as Anglo Irish Bank lurched toward nationalisation, with billions going in and out of the system.

The real concern remains the wholesale markets, which have remained stubbornly closed to Irish banks even as the panic phase of the crisis has given way to the tedium phase.

"Markets are tight and there's no funding beyond short term," said Emer Lang, banking analyst with stockbroker Davy. "The bank guarantee hasn't loosened the market as much as they were hoping. It's possible to get issues away, but the market is not as free as the banks would like."

Lang said it was virtually impossible to raise funding for terms beyond the end of the guarantee in September 2010, leaving banks stuck on a carousel of short-term money.

Each of the listed banks has completed a term issue since the guarantee, but there are still billions in debt to roll over this year and next. Banks have had to lean heavily on the ECB repo facility and even the commercial paper (CP) markets, where terms are measured in months, not years.

IL&P relies on wholesale funding more than others because of its high loan-to-deposit ratio. Last year it averaged €8bn a month of ECB money and was tapping US CP markets up to February, when that source shut down. Revealingly, Irish banks have had to pay higher rates in the CP market than even UK banks, an indication of the risk attached to the Irish financial system despite the guarantee.

"I don't think it is lack of demand or lack of clarity regarding the guarantee that is driving pricing; the issue is one of risk perception," said the head of treasury at one bank.

The reason comes back to the core of the bank crisis: bad loans.

"Other banks are still not sure their money will come back, that's why there's no unsecured lending," said Lang.