We took the bank's calls in hospital as we watched our new baby struggle to breathe

We held the phone between us on speaker in that hospital room, worrying over our baby who was struggling to breathe, while we were suffocating under our obligations, writes Caitriona Redmond 

Caitríona and John Redmond. 'At the height of the recession my bank had engineered our debt as masterfully as a loan shark.'

I know what a tracker mortgage is. My bank tried to take mine away. At the height of the recession my bank had engineered our debt as masterfully as a loan shark. Back then, Ireland was in thrall to the banks.

Internally, at the Department of Finance and the Central Bank, alarm bells should have been ringing from the heady days of the Celtic Tiger easy-access mortgages.