THE CHAIRMAN of Anglo-Irish bank was tucked up asleep in bed last Monday night as government ministers held crisis talks to save his bank.

Speaking on the Marian Finucane RTÉ radio show yesterday morning, Sean Fitzpatrick blamed global conditions for Black Monday, when share prices in Irish banks plummetted.

Fitzpatrick, who is paid €431,000 a year, denied there was a massive number of deposit withdrawals from Anglo in recent weeks. He also denied his bank was teetering on the brink on Monday evening after its share price dropped 46%.

He refuted the idea that banks had excessive lendings in the property market on foot of unrealistic valuations and claimed loans to property developers account for "less than 20% of our books."

When asked if he would apologise to the Irish taxpayer for having to bail out the banks he replied, "It would be very easy for me to say sorry. The cause of our problems was global so I can't say sorry with any degree of sincerity and decency but I do say thank you."

Following one of the most momentous days in Irish banking history, Fitzpatrick went out for dinner with a friend on Monday and got home at around 9.30pm, where he watched
TV and went to bed at 11 o'clock.

Even though he referred to the current crisis as "a once-in-a-century occasion" and his chief execuitve David Drumm was in contact with Government Buildings during the night, the
60-year-old slept all night in his Greystones home until he got the first call about the dramatic overnight events at 6am.

"I knew lots of things were happening because we had discussions with the Central Bank, with the regulator and with the Department of Finance over the previous weeks but that particular night I was not aware of what was happening…

"I knew there was a meeting at 4.30 or five o'clock but I didn't know it was going on for so long."

Fitzpatrick poured cold water on speculation Anglo was the one bank that was about to fall last week.

"We were concerned as all the banks were… If Anglo were down in isolation you would worry more but all of the banks were down that day in Ireland."

Admitting he feared an 'armageddon', he said, "I certainly was very, very concerned when I heard the news, at dinner indeed, that [the US] Congress had voted on the $700bn [banks bailout]… I have got to say, unashamedly, that I was very fearful.

"Anglo is a very well-capitalised bank but Anglo, in tandem with all the other Irish banks, were in a situation were they were seeing global liquidity clearly drying up."

He rejected the claim that Irish banks have been reckless and imprudent in lending excessive amounts of money for property deals. "The issue that faced all the banks was the drying up of global wholesale markets… The global liquidity situation and property must be divorced… There was no providers of global liquidity… that is why the Irish government had to take decisive and bold action on Monday night.

He went on: "I believe the decision made last Monday is probably the most important decision made, in an economic point of view, since the foundation of the state."

Fitzpatrick denied bad debts contributed to the current situation, claimed his bank has a healthy loan-deposit ratio and said, "Anglo Irish Bank has made mistakes because we are in the business of risk and I'll admit that. Have we been reckless? No. I don't believe that.

"I think that the world has changed since last Monday. As a chairman of a bank we are going to have to take into account the views of the taxpayer in a way that we have never done before. We are in a whole new paradigm for the boardrooms of Irish banks.

"We were all on the brink. It was very close... It was a matter of days, I would have thought – that is why the government acted so decisively and so boldly. I am saying thank you unashamedly because we owe our lives to the government and what they did," he said.

"If the Irish banking system had collapsed there would have been chaos and the real economy would have suffered… We would have been in uncharted territory and anything could have happened."