Ireland’s recovery ‘offers no template for others’

The “cataclysmic” Irish banking collapse and the subsequent economic recovery will fail to offer a template for other countries to clear up similar financial messes, according to the editors of a new book.

Austerity & Recovery in Ireland, which brings together the contributions of 24 academics and scholars on the Irish financial crisis, will be launched by former Central Bank governor Patrick Honohan at the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School this evening.

The publication, subtitled ‘Europe’s Poster Child and the Great Recession’, argues that the economic recovery here should not “simply” be put down to the policies of austerity conducted by Irish governments and overseen by the troika of the EU, the IMF, and the ECB.

Its editors, William Roche, professor at UCD’s College of Business; Philip O’Connell, director at the UCD Geary Institute for Public Policy, and Andrea Prothero, professorat UCD’s College of Business, write that “one could argue the troika sailed close to the wind with respect to their mandates” in “improvising fixes” for the failed Irish banks.

The recovery which was helped by the exports of huge number of multinational firms based here was “highly unusual” and will not offer a path for other countries to follow despite Ireland being hailed by some world leaders as Europe’s poster child for the way it implemented austerity policies. Its editors say that the toll of the crash is still being paid.

“Perhaps the biggest losers were those who lost their jobs in the recession, with employment falling by over 300,000,” the editors say.

“About 600,000 people left Ireland, around half of whom were Irish citizens.”