And the Irish banks did not invest much in the notorious US-based securitisations.3 After a record-breaking run-up to the point where Dublin residential property prices deflated by the CPI were about 3½ times the level of a decade before, property prices in Ireland peaked around the turn of 2006–7 and started falling quite sharply soon thereafter.
[2 Charts House prices] By the Autumn of 2008, it was clear that a major economic correction was under way. Employment in construction was falling, with knock-on effects throughout the economy. The fiscal position was suddenly deteriorating.