Following the disastrous election results in May, the Government is now under considerable pressure with less than two years to go to a general election.

It should come as no surprise to anybody to learn that politics is a very cruel and callous business.

Back in July 2012 the president of the ECB, Mario Draghi, promised the world that he would do whatever was needed to solve the crisis in the eurozone and get economic growth back on track.

The long-established Irish political system received a major wake-up call last weekend, with the emergence of scores of candidates without a semblance of a coherent economic or social policy between them, other than to refuse to pay for vital public services and tax those with any semblance of wealth to the hilt.

Many statistics can be identified to demonstrate the remarkable collapse that occurred in the economy since 2007, but the property and construction sector provide the most vivid and frightening examples.

Although Ireland formally exited the troika bailout programme last December, and has subsequently seen its sovereign debt upgraded and has successfully re-entered the bond markets at historically low borrowing costs, the country is still subject to external surveillance.

One of the significant features of Irish economic performance over the past couple of decades has been the unbalanced nature of regional economic growth and development.

The week after Easter has become synonymous with teacher and medical conferences, and some excitement is always promised.

Only the most stubborn amongst us would deny that things are once again starting to move for the Irish economy.

This week the employers’ body Ibec produced the most positive economic outlook we have seen thus far.