Ireland's bank bailout

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 23 February 2021

⏱️ 9 minutes

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Summary

In the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis Ireland had to borrow billions to stop its banks from going under and to keep its economy afloat. The IMF, the EU and the European Central Bank provided the money. Matt Murphy has been speaking to Patrick Honahan, who was Ireland's central banker at the time of the bailout.

Photo: Protesters take to the streets of Dublin in November 2010 to oppose savage public spending cutbacks needed to secure an international bailout. Credit:Ben Stansall/AFP via Getty Images

Transcript

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0:00.0	Choosing what to watch night after night the flicking through the endless
0:06.8	searching is a nightmare we want to help you on our brand new podcast off the
0:11.8	telly we share what we've been watching
0:14.0	Cladie Aide.
0:16.0	Load to games, loads of fun, loads of screaming.
0:19.0	Lovely. Off the telly with me Joanna Paige.
0:21.0	And me, Natalie Cassidy, so your evenings can be a little less
0:24.9	searching and a lot more auction listen on BBC sounds.
0:30.9	This is the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World Service.
0:38.0	I'm Matt Murphy.
0:39.0	Today we're looking back at the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, when Ireland became one of the first
0:45.1	Eurozone countries to need an economic bailout from the International Monetary Fund and
0:50.0	the EU.
0:51.0	I've been speaking to the country's former Central Bank governor who was left to pick up
0:55.3	the shattered pieces of what had once been a booming economy.
0:59.1	But the US Treasury Secretary tonight insisted the American financial System is sound.
1:04.0	Fears at a global recession have once again sent stock markets tumbling across Europe,
1:08.7	Asia and the US.
1:10.0	We're facing a choice between action and the real prospect of economic hardship for millions of Americans.
1:16.0	As the international economy imploded in mid 2008, the initial focus was on America.
1:21.0	But away from the headlines, trouble was brewing for Irish banks.
1:24.4	They owed at least a hundred billion euros to creditors and their reckless lending in the
	...

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