Property deals, airlines and acquisitions - there were many stars of this year's business stories. But the banks had all of the most interesting scandals, writes John McManus

The year gone by will probably be best remembered as the one in which the economy started to fire on all four cylinders once again.

Strong employment growth was the most tangible manifestation of the economy's strength, with something in the region of 44,000 additional jobs created. Not surprisingly, winners outnumbered losers in a year that saw the departure of a number of well-known figures such as Seán Fitzpatrick of Anglo Irish Bank and Charlie McCreevy, as well as the emergence of a number of new and not so new faces, such as Derek Quinlan of the eponymous private equity firm.

Seán Fitzpatrick was arguably the most totemic figure to depart the business scene. He formally steps down as chief executive today, with his anointed successor David Drumm taking over in January. During 22 years at the helm of Anglo, he built it into a very serious player in the business banking and wealth management niches. He made millionaires of a good number of the bank's employees and he amassed shares worth over €50 million in the bank, around half of which he sold during the year.

Also leaving is chief operations officer Tiarnan O'Mahoney, who was an unsuccessful candidate in the race to succeed Mr Fitzpatrick. But, just how gone Mr Fitzpatrick is remains to be seen, as he will stay on as chairman.

One banker who will have to wait a little bit longer for his money is Michael Fingleton of the Irish Nationwide. He may have got shareholder approval for a demutualisation during the year, but still awaits the passing of the long-awaited legislation that will allow him flip the society on to another player without any interregnum.

But the luckiest banker of the them all this year is arguably Michael Buckley, the AIB chief executive who remains in situ despite presiding over two of the biggest banking scandals of recent times. With dust barely settled over the Rusnak scandal, it emerged in May that the bank had been systematically overcharging for foreign exchange for six years. Subsequently, it turned out the bank was also giving preferential treatment to some investment clients as well as offering offshore banking to senior executives. The list of former bank executives who participated in Faldor - as the scheme was called - included Tom Mulcahy, Roy Douglas and Gerry Scanlan. Mr Mulcahy promptly stepped down as chairman of Aer Lingus, while Mr Douglas had given up the chair at Irish Life & Permanent in advance of the announcement.

Over at Bank of Ireland, they probably considered themselves lucky to have only lost their chief executive, Michael Soden, that month. He stepped down after breeching the firm's policy on viewing internet sites. Brian Goggin succeeded him only to find the bank's asset management division self-destructing.

All in all, the banking sector provided the lion's share of stories during the year. The IFSC found itself dragged into the Parmalat scandal when it emerged in January that the collapsed Italian food giant had an IFSC-based subsidiary. The year ends with the sale of NIB and Northern Bank - minus up to €30 million robbed from its Belfast head office - to Danske Bank for €1.4 billion.

All of the banks, and their private client operations in particular, must have been looking enviously at Derek Quinlan, who has established himself as the money man of choice for Ireland's burgeoning new rich. He started the year modestly enough, snapping up Brendan Mullin's Powerscourt Capital Partners for €5 million in February before snatching the Savoy Group from under the nose of Saudi tycoon, Prince Awaleed Bin Talal for €1.13 billion in April. He subsequently sold the flagship Savoy on to the prince of €300 million in September. He finished the year with a tidy profit of €53 million on an 11-acre site near the Galloping Green in Stillorgan.

Also making waves in the UK was Seán Quinn, who came within a whisker of buying Wentworth gold club in Surrey for £122 million. That was not to be, but his eponymous cement to financial service group could console itself with having acquired the Prague Hilton for €135 million in January and taking Barlo private in April for €84 million. Other highlights included paying €40 million for a 16 per cent stake in National Toll Roads' wind energy business, Airtricity. Mr Quinn was also tipped as a possible investor in Aer Lingus.

Any prospect of a change in the ownership structure of Aer Lingus receded when Séamus Brennan lost the transport brief in the autumn reshuffle of the Cabinet. Within weeks, the Aer Lingus management, led by chief executive Willy Walsh, had withdrawn their request to put an investment proposal together. And, within weeks of that, they had indicated their intention to depart next summer.

One airline executive who has no plans to go anywhere is Michael O'Leary. The Ryanair boss was nonplussed at being asked if he might consider his position in the wake of the profit warning in January and row with the European Commission over Charleroi. He may have had to repay the subsidies he got from the Walloon government, but it did little to soften his cough. He ended the year in a spat with pilots over union recognition that could end up a constitutional challenge. The airline's share price may have finished the year down almost 30 per cent, but it still remains the most potent force in European aviation. Tony Ryan, the airline's founder cashed out to the tune of €25 million last month when he sold half of his remaining stake in the airline.

Another person to cash in during the year was John Gallagher, who liberated €45 million from National Toll Roads through the sale of shares and cashing in a €30 million loan note issued when NTR bought his Celtic Utilities in 2001.

Other notable deals during the year were the sale in June of Coyle Hamilton by its 43-strong management, led by Hugh Governey, to Willis International for €70 million, and Siebel Systems' takeover of Eontec last April in a deal that could net €100 million for its shareholders, including €17 million for founder James Callen.

Gresham Hotels left the stockmarket, bought in July by Precinct for €117 million after an eight-month struggle. Bula also left the market, delisted owing former chairman Albert Reynolds €225,000. Michael Chadwick's Grafton inked a €336 million take over of Heitons in August, following the €183 million sale of Brookes to Wolseley.

C&C joined the market in May and Eircom returned in March amidst revelations that its top management led by Philip Nolan shares €29 million during its two-and-a-half-year stint in private ownership. Elan returned to something like its former glory with the shares trading in the high 20s, setting up chief executive Kelly Martin for a nice payout on the one million options he was granted in 2003 at €3.85. This will be dwarfed by the £126 million earned by Dr John King, the chief executive of Warner Chilcott when it was sold to Waren - a consortium of Credit Suisse First Boston and JP Morgan - for £1.6 billion in November.