The international environment in the prior period was marked by uncertainty arising from the diverging monetary policies of leading central banks, but also from the so-called Greek crisis, the Asian stock market crisis, shifting outlooks for global and Chinese growth, the effects of Brexit, geopolitical tensions, etc.
This is the difficult situation to which the lenders, the Government and other stakeholders must try to find equitable solutions. Following their recapitalisation earlier this year the Irish banks have more capacity to address individual arrears cases, but it is important to be very clear that neither the banks nor the taxpayer have unlimited financial resources.