Cantillon: it seems many soccer fans got loans for Euros

Has Joxer become more profligate since he packed his German phrase-book and jump leads for the van and headed for Stuttgart in 1988?

It would appear that he and others among “Europe’s best football fans” were onto their friendly local banks in May to fund their trips to France for the Euros.

Well, that's the view of Investec Ireland economist Philip O'Sullivan, whose eyebrows were raised by Central Bank figures this week showing that Irish households drew down €240 million in new loans for "consumer purposes" in May. That was the largest increase since early 2009.

Mind you, he says that a 12 per cent surge in car sales two months ago might have had something got to do with it, too.

But back to France. AIB, for one, drew some flak back in December when it emerged that the bank was offering loans of up to €30,000 to football fans going to the European Championships.

The bank's boss, Bernard Byrne, was forced to clarify that the offer was "not some bonanza" and would only be given to those who could afford it.

With banks’ loan books continuing to shrink following the financial crisis, they can’t turn their noses down at this kind of business.

But one wonders how many fans’ budgets factored in Ireland getting through the group stage to face France in the first knock-out round. (Certainly, Cantillon’s workload was upped last week when a few colleagues who were supposed to be back after the Italy match in Lille were missing in action.)

Will the Central Bank’s figures for June give us an indication of how many fans called up their bank manager from Lyon for a top-up as they stayed on for the decisive Ireland-France match last weekend?