The building society was a key player in speculative lending that hammered the country

It collapsed in 2009 at what would ultimately be a €5.4bn cost borne by the taxpayer.

An official notice this week in the State gazette, Iris Oifigiúil, confirms that on foot of a 2011 transfer order, the building society may now be wound up as a creditors’ voluntary liquidation.

It notes that at a creditors’ meeting last Thursday, Kieran Wallace and Eamonn Richardson of insolvency practice Interpath were appointed liquidators.

They are also the special liquidators of IBRC, formerly Anglo Irish Bank. IBRC has responsible for winding down Anglo and Irish Nationwide. IBRC recently sold its last remaining asset, 12 years after the liquidation order for IBRC was enacted.

This year, a 10-year long probe linked to the building society drew to a close.

It examined the roles of Irish Nationwide Building Society (INBS) and senior figures – Michael Fingleton, William Garfield ‘Gary’ McCollum, Tom McMenamin, John Stanley ‘Stan’ Purcell and Michael P Walsh – in the collapse of the former lender.

INBS itself and three of the individual subjects of the inquiry agreed settlements with the inquiry – including accepting individual fines of up to €200,000 and disqualifications of up to 18 years.

In 2019, the inquiry permanently stayed the case into Michael Fingleton, who had been the managing director and major player at INBS, citing his poor health.

The Central Bank has confirmed that the 2019 stay effectively ends any actions by the regulator in relation to Mr Fingleton, one of the best known and most controversial figures in the era of the banking boom and subsequent bust.

In May this year, John Stanley Purcell, a former executive board member of Irish Nationwide Building Society, was disqualified for four years from any role in management of a regulated financial service provider, fined €130,000 and reprimanded.

Director of enforcement at the Central Bank, Colm Kincaid, said the inquiry’s decision was “a significant milestone” in addressing the fallout from the banking crisis.

In 2023, Rosaleen Byrne, a partner at law firm McCann FitzGerald, alleged in US court filings where IBRC sought to quiz the former INBS internal audit head, Killian McMahon, that the building society had engaged in “speculative, high-risk lending”.

She added: “The society was ill-equipped to manage this type of lending that was radically different from the normal business of a building society.”