 In August 2010 the building society required a €5.4 billion Government bailout to stay afloat, leaving it effectively in State ownership.A letter which the Central Bank of Ireland received concerning the legality of the loans by the Building Society to Sean FitzPatrick had "gone missing".Management at Irish Nationwide used to arrange meetings with the Central Bank of Ireland for late on a Friday afternoon, knowing that their staff would not want for the encounter to last for more than an hour because it would nibble into their weekend.