Two disastrous policy decisions, both of them born of ignorance

The bank guarantee and the eighth amendment were born of ignorance and we are still rectifying the damage, argues Fergus Finlay

IN my lifetime, two public policy disasters have had far-reaching consequences. We’re still debating those consequences, still rectifying the damage. We’re still trying to understand what happened in both cases.

In economic and financial terms, the biggest was the universal bank guarantee. And it’s still a mystery. Why it was done, why it happened in the way it happened, why no proper government procedures were brought to bear, why so much secrecy? A decision was made by two men, then finance minister Brian Lenihan and then taoiseach Brian Cowen, with the rest of their government colleagues kept in the dark until the last minute.