Professor Patrick Honohan:

It went on buildings that nobody wants to live in, that is part of it. It went on paying wages for the builders of those buildings. Some of the money, I would say a much bigger sum, went from borrowers - including the borrowers the credit unions are struggling to pay back and therefore there is nothing left over - to the sellers of property and good times. That is a part that is often not focused on but it is a factor. I know you cannot identify this class of people because other things would have happened to them. Where did the money go up in smoke? It went up in smoke on property that was not worth anything and is no use to anybody.