A Celtic tiger with a billion-euro tale of woe

TO MANY he is one of the country’s most unpopular men, but Sean FitzPatrick only has to think back a few years to when he was the toast of Ireland’s economy.

Indelibly linked to the rise of the Celtic Tiger, and then its alarming collapse, FitzPatrick rose to prominence at Anglo Irish Bank having first served as chief executive and then as chairman.

FitzPatrick, 62, who now lives in Greystones in Co Wicklow, graduated from University College Dublin and qualified as a chartered accountant in 1972.