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THREE OF the Celtic Tiger’s chickens came home to roost in spectacular fashion yesterday. The Government, through Anglo Irish Bank, moved to restructure the business empire of Seán Quinn, once Ireland’s richest man. Derek Quinlan, another totemic figure from the boom years, was held to account – partially at least – by the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) which appears to have finally lost patience with the property financier.

And Bank of Ireland, which enjoys the ambiguous status of being Ireland’s “strongest” bank, appears to have finally got a handle on its problems. It will have to raise €5.2 billion in fresh capital from the State and other sources in order to deal once and for all with the consequences of its catastrophic lending policies.