Professor Gregory Connor:

I looked at that question as it was in the suggested questions list. It is a difficult question and I find looking globally that there are a lot of links across countries. There might be situations where one could have a large net foreign borrowing. It was certainly very dangerous in the Irish case and that should have been obvious to the Irish banks. I am not sure whether 88% of GDP is the second worst in the period. It is certainly not as bad as Iceland. It is a good question and I will follow up. Whether that is the second worst globally, I do not know.

In terms of property development lending, it was certainly excessive. The bank managers knew. I rely here on anecdotal discussion with banks. Most of them had someone in a senior position, perhaps even the CEO, who knew that the concentration in property development lending was excessive. That is anecdotal.