In mid-February, I conducted a public interview with the Governor of the Central Bank Gabriel Makhlouf as part of a series on leadership organised by the accountancy firm Grant Thornton. The conversation was wide-ranging, with Makhlouf accepting a large number of questions from those in virtual attendance. He linked bitcoin to the Dutch Tulip bubble, questioned the future of bricks and mortar retailing, and expressed his disappointment with FBD’s bungled handling of disputed Covid claims. But he saved his most stern and sober comments for a question about the high levels of capital and high solvency ratios at Irish banks.…