Irish Banks Need an Additional €24 Billion, Central Bank Says

LONDON — The Irish government said Thursday that four banks needed to raise an additional €24 billion to cover problem real estate loans, part of the results of a long-awaited stress test on the country’s failing financial institutions.

While largely expected by the market, the total aid figure was still a jarring number — one that increases the total bill for bailing out Ireland’s banks to about €70 billion, or about $99 billion, and increases government control of the banking sector.

The Irish bank losses come amid fresh concerns that Europe’s banking problems are getting worse, not better. In Spain, which is experiencing a real estate collapse similar to Ireland’s, a plan for four troubled savings banks, or cajas, to merge fell through Wednesday, raising concerns there that, as was the case in Ireland, Spain might be underestimating the depth of its banking crisis.

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