The Bankers: How the Banks Brought Ireland to Its Knees

(Paperback)

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Description

The inside story of Ireland's banking meltdown As recently as 2007, the Irish economy was still booming and the state coffers overflowing; by the end of 2008, the state faces an unprecedented crisis. The story of the Irish banking collapse is a tawdry tale of collusion, back-scratching and denial among bankers, developers, regulators and politicians. This is the story Shane Ross - independent Senator, long-time champion of citizens against misbehaving corporations, and Journalist of the Year 2009 - tells in The Bankers, going behind the scenes and the headlines to explain what happened, how it happened and who made it happen. They're all here- Sean FitzPatrick, Michael Fingleton and the other bank bosses; Patrick Neary and his colleagues in Ireland's failed regulatory apparatus; the property developers, whose borrowings ruined the banks, and many of whom are now personally ruined; and the politicians, whose policies helped inflate the property bubble and who have allowed the banks to dictate the terms of their bail-out. Shane Ross knows the stories of these people and what they got up to, and in The Bankers he makes sense of a scandal that will haunt Ireland for years to come.

Reviews

Pleasingly indiscreet ... In particular it's his anecdotes about politics and business that ... differentiate it from the other chronicles of the collapse of the boom. * Sunday Times *
A hugely entertaining writer ... this is a serious book that is never boring, an engaging, personal account of the most tumultuous period in Ireland's economic history. * The Phoenix *
The book is littered with "you couldn't make it up" stories and gems. For anyone who really wants to know what happened, who let it happen, and how deep the rot really goes, this is a must. * Sunday Independent *
Read this super book. Cry, get mad and get even. * Irish Times *
Prose that sizzles on the page * Irish Examiner *

Author Bio

Shane Ross is Business Editor of the Sunday Independent and an independent member of the Irish Senate.