Allied Irish Banks Online

Allied Irish Banks Online

Allied Irish Banks Online

Harsh economic realities of post-Celtic Tiger years batter Ireland as much as but in different ways from other parts of Europe. The nostalgic, romanticised, When Irish Eyes Are Smiling (1912), is about Irish character surviving tribulation: ‘When Irish Eyes Are Smiling, sure 'tis like a morn in spring/In the lilt of Irish laughter you can hear the angels sing/When Irish hearts are happy all the world seems bright and gay/And When Irish Eyes Are Smiling, sure, they steal your heart away’.

The recession/slowdown of 2008-2009 was felt across the land. Finger-pointing and blame for collapse of housing market and banking, overheating, taxes, unemployment, the public sector and whether the Euro should have been joined, led to the 2010 EU bail-out.

3rd September 2011, the BBC reported the International Monetary Fund was releasing €1.5bn to the Republic as part of the rescue package, since Ireland had maintained ‘resolute implementation’ of its austerity programme of tax rises, spending cuts and economic restructuring. The economy showed ‘signs of stabilisation’.