If you tune in to radio every day you’ll hear a variety of ads from Irish retail banks cheerily promoting their mortgage offerings. Gone are the income exemptions that they would offer to certain buyers, as allowed for under the Central Bank of Ireland’s macroprudential rules. Extra scrutiny is also being applied to applications from people working in “high risk” sectors, which is most of the Irish economy right now. It’s a similar story at all of the other Irish mortgage lenders. Irish banks are still scarred by the legacy of the Celtic Tiger years when they threw money around like it was going out of fashion, and the €65 billion bailout by taxpayers post the 2008 financial crash.

Source: The Irish Times July 05, 2020 23:02 UTC