Bond economist Olivier Mangan addresses the breakfast seminar delegates. Picture by Tony Pike (00731036)

THE ‘Celtic Tiger’ is going through an unprecedented decline – and recovery is likely to be slow, specialists on the Irish economy said yesterday at a seminar in Jersey.

Oliver Mangan, chief bond economist at AIB global treasury in Dublin, said the impact had been particularly sharp because it had been preceded by a full 15 years of ‘unprecedented growth’ which had made Ireland one of the most successful economies in Europe.

‘We were up there with countries like Luxembourg and now we are coming back into the pack, with Germany and the UK,’ he observed.

But Jo Moynihan, who heads AIB in Jersey and the Isle of Man, said that from a local standpoint the bank had recently invested in a long lease on new premises on the Esplanade.
He said: ‘We are not a big lending bank here, we have no bad debts, and we gather deposits.’

Mr Moyihan also said that unlike some other banking groups in the Island AIB had ‘no plans’ to make any redundancies, adding: ‘There is still a flow of business coming through.’