Ireland at risk of another banking disaster

One of the Central Bank’s most senior officials has warned that Ireland is at risk of repeating the catastrophic economic mistakes of the past less than a decade after the country was cast into financial ruin.

In a series of pointed remarks, Central Bank director of credit institutions supervision Ed Sibley warned that Ireland must, at all costs, remember the lessons learned since 2008 but added that he feared they are already being forgotten.

He further admonished Irish banks for failing to meet targets set by the Central Bank, as well as for showing signs of returning to a toxic culture of bad lending and dragging their feet in finding solutions for thousands of mortgage holders in arrears.