Standards of the time ‘found wanting’

Since the crash, critics have raised questions about the spectacular breakdown of the huge web of controls over banks.

Three official reports and the Dáil’s Banking Inquiry have addressed certain aspects of the crisis, but did not focus in any great detail of why internal audit committees approved the advance of billions of euro in commercial and residential property loans.

Critics remain perplexed about the massive failure of internal and external checks that were supposed to protect the country from the failings of the banks. For its size, Ireland’s banking crash was the world’s costliest.