(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The head of the Irish Central Bank Patrick Honohan, who helped negotiate Ireland's international bailout in 2010, said on Friday he will retire by the end of the year.
Honohan, 65, was appointed as governor of the Irish Central Bank in September 2009 at the height of the financial crisis and oversaw a multi-billion euro recapitalisation of Irish banks.
Honohan became a household name in Ireland in November 2010 when he broke the news on national radio that the International Monetary Fund was in Dublin to negotiate a bailout programme.
Speaking on Friday morning, Honohan said it was the right time to retire as "the crisis management phase" at the Central Bank was over.
"We're very much now into a phase of repair, and consolidation and good husbandry," he told reporters at the launch of the Bank's annual report.
Minister for finance Michael Noonan said Honohan's departure "marks the end of an era".
"His clear thinking, leadership and wise counsel helped to steer the country through some of our most difficult times," Noonan said in a statement.
Honohan was appointed governor by the then-minister for finance Brian Lenihan in 2009 as the Irish economy plunged and the banks almost collapsed.
Sixty-four billion euros ($72 billion) of taxpayers' money were pumped into Irish banks during the crisis, the most expensive bank rescue in the eurozone.
After years of austerity, the economy has rebounded since exiting the rescue programme in late 2013 and last year recorded the strongest growth in the European Union.
Aside from changes to financial regulation, Honohan oversaw the introduction of stricter lending limits for mortgages in an attempt to slow rising house prices.
But the Central Bank has struggled to deal with forcing banks to deal with mortgage accounts in arrears and regulation in certain areas such as the credit unions and insurance companies.
His seven-year term was due to end in September 2016.
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