Book description
On Wall Street in 1929, during the worst financial crisis the world had
ever seen, the word "Banksters" was coined to describe those
ruthless individuals who had gambled away the country's wealth. The
phrase "Banksters" has now been resurrected as David Murphy
and Martina Devlin describe the shocking story of how the Irish banking
system was brought to its knees by a corrupt elite driven by profit and
greed. Banksters examines the events which triggered the near collapse
of Ireland's banking system, when it unfolded that a privileged 'golden
circle', caught up in a frenzy of greed and opportunism, had gambled and
lost with the deposits and pensions of the Irish people. It charts how
an unprecedented orgy of over-borrowing - fuelled by bankers who threw
out the rule book on lending and reckless tax breaks from cavalier
politicians -caused a massively over-inflated property bubble. While
bank shares climbed to dizzying heights, profits soared and executives
earned enormous bonuses, those who cried 'stop!' were shouted down. But
there was no promised 'soft landing' when, in September 2008, bankers
overnight went from being pillars of society to pariahs. When the word
'Ireland' became synonymous with corruption in the global lending
markets. When a generation learned it would pay a high price for the
arrogance and greed of its business elite. Banksters is a hard-hitting
read that, were it fiction, might not be believed. In describing the key
players, their motivations, personalities and lavish lifestyles it poses
the all-important questions: who is answerable - and will all the
culprits be called to account? As RTE's business correspondent, David
Murphy has been in the front line of the banking crisis daily. The 2008
winner of Business Broadcast Journalist of the year, he is a former
deputy business editor of the Irish Independent. Martina Devlin is a
best-selling author and award-winning journalist writing weekly columns
for the Irish Independent and the Sunday World. Previously she spent
seven years working on Fleet Street. Shortlisted twice for the Irish
Book Awards, she is 2009 Writer in Residence at the Princess Grace
Library in Monaco.
