'Hysteria' condemned

THERE HAS been “an almost hysterical endorsement” of doomsday scenarios facing the economy in the recent debate on the country’s financial problems, according to the chairman of the Irish Association of Investment Managers.

Speaking at the association’s annual dinner last night, Gerry Keenan criticised negative commentary. He said it was disappointing to see “the imbalance between the authority and significance attached to each and every analysis of our problems . . . The result has been a very difficult period in the already fragile international bond markets for Irish sovereign debt and an increasing pessimism about this economy and our chances of recovery,” said Mr Keenan, head of Irish Life Investment Managers.