12  BIS Review 113/2006  In addition to the above data analysis, I must mention that non-institutional agricultural credit has declined from over 92.7 per cent in 1950s to 38.9 per cent in 2002. Thus, nationalisation of banks and their increased geographical expansion into rural areas certainly made a difference but there is scope for improvement.
Ireland is an energy importer, and when oil and gas prices rise it represents a negative (terms of trade) shock, like a tax on the economy. And ultimately the economy needs to meet this cost out of our collective resources. We can reduce the costs by economising on energy use.