But he doesn't predict a "complete meltdown" has in 2008.
The former governor of the Central Bank says it's impossible to rule out a future banking crisis.
Patrick Honohan says Irish banks still haven't fully learned the lessons of the banking crisis, and mortgage lending restrictions are still badly needed.
Mr. Honohan was appointed governor in September 2009, a year and a half after the visible effects of the banking crisis.
He says banks still need to learn from the bailout - and develop a culture of public service:
"There's still a mindset 'How can we grow our bank?'...think a little bit more that we are public utility, we are providing a service, how can we provide that service more efficiently, at a lower cost.
These should be the objectives of banks but there's still too much of the mindset that 'We are a business, we are driven by profit'."
But Patrick Honohan has said he believes a repeat of the "complete meltdown" in 2008 is unlikely.
He said some progress had been made in stabilising the Irish and European banking systems:
"I don't think that anybody can say, with their hands on their hearts, that there will never be another bank failure...
Ireland has had a long run of about 100 years without a bank failure, and let's hope it'll be another 100 years again."
