2008–2010 Irish financial crisis

The 2008–2010 Irish financial crisis is a major ongoing economic crisis in Ireland that is in part responsible for the country falling into recession for the first time since the 1980s. The Irish government officially announced it was in recession in September 2008, with a sharp rise in unemployment occurring in the following months. The Republic of Ireland was the first state in the Eurozone to enter recession as declared by the Central Statistics Office.[1]

The numbers of people claiming unemployment benefit in Ireland rose to 326,000 in January 2009, the highest monthly level since records began in 1967.[2] Amidst the crisis, which has coincided with a series of banking scandals, the ruling Fianna Fáil party fell to third place in an opinion poll conducted by The Irish Times. The party placed behind Fine Gael and Labour, the latter rising above Fianna Fáil for the first time.

The weakening conditions drew 120,000 protesters onto the streets of Dublin on 21 February 2009, amidst further threats of protests and industrial action. The Dublin's ISEQ index had reached 10,000 points briefly in April 2007. But on 24 February 2009, it fell over 3% to stand at 1,987 points, a 14-year low.[3] The last time it stood under the 2,000 level was the middle of 1995.[3] This occurrence followed the unexpected resignation of former Anglo Irish Bank director Anne Heraty from the board of the Irish Stock Exchange the night before


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