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Criticism of Central Bank power fuels Ireland’s growing bad rap

A story in the Financial Times on the CBI’s ‘excessive’ fitness and probity regime should ring alarm bells here

Finance professionals, wrote Laura Noonan in the Financial Times, “have accused the Central Bank of Ireland of being bureaucratic and of taking an overly intrusive, combative approach”. Picture: Fergal Phillips

One of the potentially most significant stories about the prospects for the Irish economy may have been one that appeared in the Financial Times last week. Essentially, it suggested that the Central Bank of Ireland has become excessive and unfair in its use of power. This is the type of story that gets international attention in places that matter.

For all of the emphasis in recent years on the tech and pharma companies for the ...