Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan has said elements of the bank guarantee scheme may be extended.
Ireland's original guarantee, introduced in September 2008, which covered bank deposits and most securities, is due to expire at the end of next month.
A second, more limited, guarantee is due to lapse at the end of the year. "We want to see them off the guarantee as soon as possible," Mr Lenihan said in an interview with RTÉ.
"Elements of the guarantee will not be continued from September. What we are talking about here is the phasing out of the guarantee over time."
Mr Lenihan said investors are not concerned about the scale of the state rescue of the banking sector. The bailout may cost as much as €29 billion, the Central Bank Governor Patrick Honohan said earlier this week.
"We continue to have a very large gap between what we want to spend on ourselves and what we get in on taxation. That's the biggest problem the government has," said Mr Lenihan.
Bloomberg