Saudi Aramco’s biggest asset could also be a liability. Its vast oil reserves — the state-owned Aramco producer can sustain current production levels for the next 50 years — make it more exposed than any other company to a rising tide of environmental activism and shift away from fossil fuels.

Sinn Féin have been caught out in an election video in which they claimed a “concerned citizen” was the brother of a former Fine Gael TD.

The absence of quantitative easing has delayed the recovery in Ireland and other eurozone periphery countries, according to Guy Monson, managing partner at the London-based asset management firm, Sarasin & Partners.