You wouldn't catch Mervyn King admitting this...

The City AM writes up a review of the Irish banking system by the new governor of their central bank, concluding thusly:

What is most startling in Honohan’s report is his refusal to blame the international financial crisis for Ireland’s problems. It would have happened anyway, the straight-talking central banker says, and the collapse of Lehman Brothers in autumn 2008 only exacerbated the Irish banks’ funding problems.

The end of Honohon’s report sums up this chapter in Ireland’s history: “The Celtic Tiger period represented a solid convergence of Ireland to the frontier. But it ended in 2000, to be succeeded by an old-fashioned property bubble.”

At least its central bank governor is under no delusion of what caused the crisis. It took a decade to grow, it may take a decade to unwind.