PANEL RESPONSE: FINANCIAL SECTOR POLICY - Remarks on the Banking Sector in Ireland and the European Context

Abstract

The appointment of Patrick Honohan as Governor of the Central Bank was a great honour, reflecting Patrick’s huge list of achievements over a lifetime, and a terrible charge in the circumstances of the day. Only a person with courage and a strong sense of duty and patriotism would be persuaded to take on that job at that time. In the two and a half years afterwards, I worked very closely with Patrick, in very troubled economic times. I can say that during that time, Patrick’s tireless work and only agenda was to do his job fully and properly and to protect the people of Ireland. This was the period of the GFC, or Great Financial Crisis, but that title describes the war, not the battles. For the officials and politicians and many private sector players at the centre of these events, it often seemed as if any one of a hundred minor issues could be the trigger for a deeper and much more damaging situation. There was a political crisis one day, a bank in crisis the next, a legal disaster around the corner. Patrick’s steady hand in steering the Central Bank, and in influencing the European Central Banking machine, was an important factor in keeping us from the worst. Despite all the pressures, Patrick was always open to criticism (even the deeply unfair and inaccurate kind) and honest and self-reflective in dealing with it.