Several of Ireland's billionaires, including JP McManus, John Magnier and Dermot Desmond, have been approached by leading Irish banks as part of a global attempt to raise much-needed capital, according to senior Government sources in Dublin.

At least one Irish bank is also believed to have approached American billionaire and philanthropist Warren Buffet, who is a key adviser to US president-elect Barack Obama.

AIB, the Republic's largest bank, yesterday denied it was involved in any approach, saying “there is no truth in that”.

It has also been claimed that despite their part in causing the financial crisis, which has seen billions wiped off share values and pensions and which has led to thousands of job losses, none of the bank chief executives has taken a pay cut since the taxpayer-backed bailout announced by the Government weeks ago.

However, while many of the top brass have escaped so far, most of the banks in the south are actively planning major cost-cutting programmes which will involve closing branches, introducing redundancy schemes and the sale of some of their valuable property assets.

Lower-level employees at the Republic’s two main banks, AIB and Bank of Ireland, have also been targeted with bonus cuts, pay and promotion freezes and now a “major consolidation of operations” is set to take place.

The seven lenders that have signed up to the €450bn guarantee scheme — AIB, Bank of Ireland, Anglo Irish Bank, Irish Life & Permanent, EBS Building Society, Irish Nationwide and Postbank — have to submit their reform plans to the Department of Finance by the end of this month.