RTE’s George Lee has pulled out of a publishing deal to write a book on the Celtic tiger and handed back an advance that was reported to be €100,000.

Lee, the station’s economics editor, said the uncertainty in the world economy had prompted his decision. “I decided things were too up in a heap globally to commit myself, so I decided to kick the book into touch,” he said.

“I’m not sure what I will do now. We will have to wait for things to pan out. Everything became too much in a state of flux and it would have been very difficult to do it.”

The last straw was the collapse of Bear Stearns, a New York bank, in March. Lee had been planning to examine how global trends were the key to the success of the Irish economy, particularly capital markets, but these have been in chaos since the start of the year.

“You got to the situation where you couldn’t believe what was happening. Books have a long shelf life, and you want to be sure that they are not out of date before they are written.

“It was a hard decision to pull out, but I think it was the right one. I can’t tell you whether I will pick it up again next year.”

Lee denied the advance he received from Hodder Headline was €100,000, as was reported when he signed up with the publisher in April 2007. “That figure wasn’t right,” the RTE journalist insisted, although he declined to provide a different one.

Sources in the publicity industry say the advance wasn’t far short of six figures, however. Hodder beat off competition from other publishers in an auction that was held at a time when popular-economics books were all the rage.

The success of Freakonomics by Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner, and The Pope’s Children by David McWilliams, prompted publishers to commission more books on a similar theme.

Lee insisted his project was not a victim of the Irish recession, a phenomenon he was accused of predicting for too long. “The global environment was the issue, not the domestic situation,” he said.

The economics editor, whose reports have been described as “glum” and too pessimistic, is a graduate of the London School of Economics and a former employee of the Central Bank. Ten years ago he and RTE colleague Charlie Bird revealed that National Irish Bank had defrauded customers and faciliated tax evasion.

Lee originally said that the book would tell the story of “how a decade of easy gains and soaring expectations seduced people into unrealistic notions of what they are worth, and what they are due”. Hodder Headline said it hopes to revisit the project at a future date. The rise and decline of the Celtic tiger still seems like perfect fodder for a blockbuster — albeit one with an uncertain ending.

McWilliams, who is in the middle of a two-book deal with Gill & Macmillan, may be next into the market with his thoughts. The author received €450,000 to write The Generation Game and one other work, expected next year. It is also due to be based on global economics and property prices.

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