Ignorance is bliss when a property crash looms

HOW on earth did the Government miss the fact that the country’s banks were so over-exposed to property?

The answer seems to be that the banks themselves didn’t realise – being blissfully ignorant to the looming catastrophe. Or if they did realise, they glossed over it and simply didn’t tell the Government.

The only people who seemed to truly appreciate the depth of the hole that the banks had dug for themselves were international investors. They began avoiding Irish banks a long, long time before the crisis truly erupted.