These meetings took place in an increasingly tense situation of national and international media speculation, market tensions (which had brought the yield on Irish Government 10-year bonds above 8 per cent) 9 and considerable international official alarm at the highest levels.
In an attempt to restore depositor and public confidence, I was anxious to make a credible public statement especially as depositor outflows were accelerating. 10 Indeed, the previous day had seen an outflow of € million of retail deposits – by far the largest daily figure before or since.