By the early 2000s, the Irish banks had moved from their historic position as exporters of funds to the rest of the world to champion importers of funds to be recycled into finance for mortgages and for property development in the Irish world-beating property and construction bubble.
Although this boom coincided with Ireland’s euro membership, I have argued elsewhere that the link was a tenuous one. One indication: the fact that the British banking connection held up well in this period also: the two biggest UK banks were among those  BIS central bankers’ speeches  3  leading the headlong charge for property lending.