The Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Act 2008 is an Act of the Oireachtas (Irish parliament). The Act was a piece of emergency legislation decided on by the Government on Tuesday September 30 and enacted on Thursday October 2 to provide a eur 440 billion guarantee to six Irish banks to prevent possible collapse as a result of the Global financial crisis of September–October 2008
It was unusual in that it was the first time since its foundation that the Irish senate began debate on legislation after midnight, finally passing the bill at 8am on Thurs October 2.
Background
The decision to introduce the bill was made following Monday 29 September, when the ISEQ fell a record 13%, when a number of banks in Europe were collapsing and the United States congress initially rejected their Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 and a subsequent record points-value fall in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
There was a direct positive response on the liquidity markets on the day the bill was announced.