The year Irish banks returned to some sort of health

Rugby heads among us can recall, with great joy, the way the Irish pack bossed their French counterparts on the way to a famous victory in the Rugby World Cup. Well, we all know what happened next.

The Irish economy too has been achieving a forward momentum of some scale, with GDP growth expected to reach 7%.

Even taking into account question marks over the reliability of GDP figures, given the high level of profit repatriations by multinationals, particularly in a once again buoyant pharmaceuticals sector, there is plenty evidence of economic revival.