Domino Effect

Ireland accepts a bail-out – who'll be next?

..as concerns have grown over the state of the economy, there's been evidence of a slow-moving bank run (or 'bank walk', as some wags have put it) on Irish institutions. For example, an estimate by Ciaran Callaghan of Dublin-based NCB Stockbrokers, suggests that Bank of Ireland lost €10bn in deposits between late August and early September.

For all the support given by the ECB, depositors have clearly been becoming increasingly nervous that – to put it simply – Irish banks would just run out of money. The Irish government promised that it would stand behind the banks. But of course, everyone's realised by now that this is a hollow promise – the Irish state can't afford to bail out its entire banking sector.