The Government earned €1.1bn from deals done by the Central Bank last year.

The organisation's annual report revealed a profit for the year to the end of December of €1.4bn.

Governor Patrick Honohan outlined a series of achievements over the course of last year with the liquidation of the former Anglo Irish Bank and deeper efforts to deal with mortgage arrears highlighted.

"The major focus for the Central Bank during 2012, and into 2013, has been the restoration of financial stability to the Irish economy," he said.

"This has been, and remains, a significant challenge. However, despite the scale of this task and the backdrop of a weak external economic environment, the overall policy stance is moving things in the right direction."

Mr Honohan said efforts to wind down Anglo and resolve the arrears crisis have reached decisive junctures.

"All of these measures are ultimately concerned with creating the environment for sustainable economic growth and reduction in unemployment. Meanwhile, price stability is of course anchored by the policy of the Eurosystem," he said.

The level of monitoring and regulation was also outlined in the report.

The Central Bank's work during 2012 included 76 market abuse investigations while the number of investigations under securities law more than doubled from 30 to 76 on the 2011 figures.

One of its inquiries is on matters that led to Bloxham stockbrokers going into liquidation.

There was also a significant increase in the number of individuals being investigated for suspicious activity when arranging transactions, from three in 2011 to 19 last year.