IT APPEARS that nothing is going right for the Irish economy at the moment. Over the past week we have again been hit with a barrage of negative news on the real economy, all of it suggesting the deterioration is continuing and has not yet bottomed out.

THE Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan has attracted considerable flak since his candid comments about the economy last week.

WHATEVER way one looks at it, the Irish housing market is in serious difficulty at the moment. Prices are still falling, buyers are still not buying, and house builders are building little other than one-off housing. New home registrations in May were 61% down on a year earlier. This is a collapse by any standard.

A COUPLE of years ago we were bombarded with coverage about rip-off Ireland which culminated in the politically populist but flawed decision to abolish the groceries order.

FOR investors in the Irish equity market, 2007 was a dreadful year. Share prices fell heavily across the board as a wall of international selling reflected a total loss of international belief in the Irish economic story.

NAPOLEON had a preference for lucky generals. Our outgoing Taoiseach was certainly such a general.

BACK in 1986, Ireland’s economy and society were in deep crisis. Incorrect decisions made then would have resulted in more decades of economic and social stagnation.

IN theory there is a strong commitment in this country to achieve more balanced regional economic development.

WE CONTINUE to live in interesting times, which are becoming more interesting and confusing by the day. The global equity market performance continues to be pretty dreadful, news of the US economy is still awful, and the ongoing stream of news relating to the subprime crisis is anything but positive.

AS WE move towards the final hours of 2007 and look forward to 2008, one can look back on the year past with mixed feelings and look forward with a greater level of trepidation than we have seen for some time.