Did Ireland really need to be rescued?

Was it destined that Ireland would require a huge, and humiliating, financial bailout?

The late finance minister Brian Lenihan, Cardiff writes in his lengthy witness statement to the inquiry, was hopeful that Ireland could avoid a bailout if it had a credible plan to reduce the ballooning budget deficit and the cash draining from the banking sector. From September 2010, the minister and his civil servants were in constant meetings and dialogue with ...