Central Bank ‘watered down’ warnings of property bubble

The Central Bank deliberately “watered down” economic warnings about the property bubble in the run-up to the crash, its former chief economist has claimed.

Tom O’Connell told the Oireachtas probe into the financial crisis his weekly calls to rein-in the banks because “things are going crazy” were “blocked” from reaching the top of the bank because of the political and property interests on its board of directors.

Mr O’Connor who was assistant director general of the Central Bank until 2009 said the institution was heavily weighted with political supporters of the Fianna Fáil government and its chairperson was too close to the Finance Department.