Lenihan is 'second-worst' finance chief
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Ailish O'Hora
As if he didn't have enough problems, Brian Lenihan has been ranked the second-worst finance minister in Europe.
Only Portugal's Fernando Teixeira dos Santos was rated below him in the 'Financial Times' survey of 19 countries' performance.
"Divided Europe, pop went the economy," was how the FT summed up his performance in the global banking crisis.
Mr Lenihan has had a baptism of fire since taking up his position in May. First was the failed Lisbon Treaty and then Ireland was the first eurozone member in recession.
To top it all off the public finances are in dire straits and our EU borrowings are twice the limit under the stability and growth pact.
While our €440m bank bailout scheme was the first announced in Europe, the Government has yet to address the issue of recapitalisation of the banks.
The subprime mess might have started across the Atlantic and the real economic impact on Europe of the near-collapse of the banking sector has been severe, but we are sitting on our own property-related mess and we still have the Finance Bill to look forward to tomorrow.
Winner
Last man standing in the FT test, which rated economic stability and political skill, was Finland's Jyrki Katainen -- who has emerged as winner of this year's competition.
Unlike many other European countries, Finland learned from the 1990s Nordic banking crisis.
"At the beginning of the 1990s we were very close to the position where Iceland is at the moment," he told the FT in an interview.
Also-rans included UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, who ranked 14th and France's Christine Lagarde, the only woman who featured on the list and came in 7th.
Mr Darling's score was boosted by the widely copied UK bank bailout plan, although a low point was his handling of the late 2007 troubles at Northern Rock.
