Ireland Plummets (NYSE: AIB) (NYSE: IRE)

DUBLIN, IRELAND - Shares of Irish banking institutions plummeted today on worries that a European bailout may actually cripple the banks. The European Union will likely be much stricter on the Irish Banks than the Irish Government. The government has said that it is likely the Irish Banks will have forced asset sales and warned shareholders that they may only be left with a fraction of their investment.

But a shareholder from 2007 is already only left with 1/100 of their investment. So what is 1/10 of 1/100 actually it doesn't matter. What is important to note that the European governments will not be kind to shareholders.

AIB, and IRE have huge losses currently not shown on their balance sheet as speculated by everyone and today Patrick Honohan, governor of the Central Bank of Ireland, Tuesday said that "the banks are for sale as far as I'm concerned," and that they could be offloaded to a foreign buyer.

Officials have also mentioned that the losses are much larger then are being reported and that he is done playing the game and lying to the public. Here at The Markets Are Open, we understood AIB's losses. To see our full AIB report click here