Were the bankers fools or knaves?

Six years ago last Monday, the heads of the country’s two largest banks went in to Government Buildings late at night and told the Taoiseach and minister for finance that they were facing a liquidity crisis.

Had they been telling the whole story, things might have worked out very different. There would still have been a dramatic correction required in the public finances, but without needing to recapitalise the banks; we would likely ...