The total size of the financial assets located in the “IFSC” firms and funds places Ireland on the edge of some international comparisons as having a very large financial sector relative the size of the economy, and even globally significant in absolute terms (cf. Lane, 2013). But most of these assets are at most tangentially linked to the rest of the economy.
Stripping away that international enclave business allows us to focus on what matters more. As we have seen, the domestic Irish banking system was traditionally rather passive as an investor, stable, but contributing comparatively little to economic growth. From the early 2000s, though, massive growth in its activities and apparent profitability told a new story.