The board of ICC Bank will meet tomorrow to assess its options following the Government decision to withdraw it from sale to Bank of Ireland.

The ICC's senior management and staff yesterday expressed disappointment at the failure and the MSF trade union is calling on the Minister for Finance to pump funds into the bank to ensure its short-term viability,

Reacting to the Minister's decision, ICC chief executive, Mr Michael Quinn, said he was disappointed by the outcome but insisted it was business as usual for the bank.

MSF, which represents the majority of ICC's 358 employees, said it would meet management tomorrow and would shortly meet Mr McCreevy to begin a fresh consultative process on the bank's future.

MSF regional officer Mr Brian Gallagher said the union believed ICC remained a strong and profitable financial institution with a bright future. "We will want to discuss with the Minister future funding arrangements for the bank." Mr Gallagher also rejected suggestions that the terms and conditions which were attached to the sale, which primarily maintained staff working conditions and secured shares worth £100,000 for each employee, were a factor in the collapse of the sale process.

Nonetheless these conditions were always dependent on the bank being sold to another financial institution and management and the trade unions may be forced to revise them with a view to any future sale.

The decision to withdraw from the sale is understood to have been primarily based on price, with industry sources suggesting that Bank of Ireland's tender was significantly below the £300 million (€381 million) price tag the Government expected to raise from the sale.

Bank of Ireland - which declined to comment on the process again yesterday - was the only bidder and had completed an in-depth due diligence. It is believed to have submitted a price which had incorporated a heavy discount to reflect the terms and conditions attached to the sale by the Government.

The Minister for Finance will continue to work with the bank and the Department's corporate advisers, ABN Amro, on a new strategy to secure the sale of the bank. The ICC Bank Bill, which is before the Dail today, will be amended to reflect the Government's decision, with the word "immediate" deleted from references to the sale.

Mr McCreevy claimed that up to 10 banks expressed an initial interest in ICC when it was put on the market in July but only three firm indications of interest were received by the August 23rd deadline. Of those, Bank of Scotland failed to follow through with a bid while the Belgian bank KBC which owns Irish Intercontinental Bank, withdrew from the process before embarking on a due diligence examination.