Why did Ireland need financial assistance?

The Irish economy suffered as a consequence of a boom-bust cycle in the housing market. House prices increased four-fold from 1997 to 2007, when the bubble burst. As the property boom was financed through aggressive lending by Irish banks, the decline in property prices and the collapse in construction activity resulted in severe losses in the Irish banking system. The government of Ireland responded by injecting public funds into banks to restore their solvency (over €60 billion). This led to a huge increase in Ireland’s public debt, while the sharp decline in economic activity caused GDP to fall and unemployment to rise. The Irish government was not able to resolve the situation on its own, and therefore requested financial assistance from the euro area countries, the EU and the IMF.