Our economic crisis - We must now rebuild credibility

IT is increasingly difficult to remain composed, or to even want to, as the behaviour of a voracious, immoral and appalling coterie of bankers forces our government to take another do-or-die gamble with taxpayers’ funds.

Thursday night’s announcement of the nationalisation of Anglo Irish Bank, the Republic’s third largest lender, is another throw of the dice in the battle to sustain the shabby remnants of that bank and, by extension, the banking system we all depend on.

Increasingly sceptical depositors and investors finally lost confidence in Anglo Irish last month when it emerged the bank had, with the collusion of Irish Nationwide, concealed loans of up to €129 million to its disgraced former chairman Sean FitzPatrick.