Irish banks’ dependence on funding from the European Central Bank fell in December to its lowest level since September 2008.

Official figures from the Central Bank showed the level of borrowing from banks operating in Ireland fell by €4.8 billion to €70.9 billion last month.

From a peak borrowing level, the funding drawn via the ECB refinancing operations is down 48 per cent or €65.5 billion.

According to the latest report, the share of total ECB funding by banks in Ireland has fallen from a peak reached in November 2010 of around 26.5 per cent immediately after the bailout to 6.3 per cent by the end of December 2012.

The covered banks account for about 4.3 per cent of Eurosystem funding, compared with a peak of 18.8 per cent. These figures do not include IBRC.