The banks are not responsible this time for the economic crisis that has engulfed Ireland and the rest of the world. Banks have had to move with extraordinary speed to change systems to provide mass relief to tens of thousands of customers. The Government estimates this would support banks making an additional €13 billion of credit available. That level of capital could support more than €5 billion of lending, or provide an additional cushion for the banks as their bad loans inevitably rise. Taxpayers pumped about €30 billion into Ireland’s three surviving banks during the financial crisis to ensure the Republic continued to have a banking system.

Source: The Irish Times March 29, 2020 23:03 UTC