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Thejournal.ie -
The manual is intended for us during financial crises but was not used during Ireland’s banking crisis and neither the Central Bank nor the Minister for Finance will release it, it was revealed this week.
NEITHER THE DEPARTMENT of Finance nor the Central Bank will release the so-called ‘Black Book’, a crisis management manual intended to assist officials during financial crises, which was never used during the bank crisis five years ago.
The ‘Black Book’ is referred to in the Nyberg report into the causes of the banking crisis which led to the fateful guarantee of Irish banks in September 2008. The report notes: “In the actual crisis no use was made of the Black Book procedures.”
The manual lays out procedures for emergency funding from a Central Bank or emergency liquidity assistance (ELA), guidance on legal issues related to insolvency processes and providing state aid to industry, and information on how to contact the responsible persons in a crisis.
It has been in existence since 2001 when it was prepared by the Central Bank of Ireland to provide for a set of processes and procedures to refer to during the management of financial crises.
But it was never used when Ireland’s banks were plunged into crisis at the back end of the last decade resulting in the eventual guarantee of all liabilities of Irish banks at an eventual cost of €64 billion, a move which later resulted in Ireland needing an international bailout.
The manual was referenced in a parliamentary question from independent TD Stephen Donnelly this week.
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