Ireland's banking sector bailout will result in massive losses for the state and the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) fund it set up to buy bad bank debt, according to Standard and Poor's (S&P).

The Irish press are reporting this week that losses are expected to total €24 billion ($30.5 billion) over a 5-year period for the bailout fund. That would leave the country getting back €16 billion ($20.3 billion) or 10% of GDP.

Ireland's Finanna Fail government expects to get all of their investment back, eventually. And they've called S&P's recent reports on Ireland, and the methodology behind them, flawed. S&P cut the country's credit rating to AA earlier this week, meaning still a safe investment but a reduction in the previous low risk category.