Are we slipping back into obedient acceptance of a perpetual cycle of scandals as the sun sets on Enda’s ‘bright new day’?

We’ve been here before, haven’t we? We have done the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. We have phoned Liveline in our masses, watched politicians kick the problems around like footballs and read all the newspaper column inches dedicated to our rage.

Exhausted, beaten down and worn out from scandal after scandal, we emerged from the blazing furnace to a happier dawn. The Democratic Revolution was heralded. There would be no more of that Fás business, no more Bertie Bowl, no more banker bonuses or jaw-dropping ministerial expenses. There would be no more brown envelopes, economic treasons, mature recollections, or thundering disgraces.

We had — in the words of our new political leadership — voted for a “new way of doing business, a new Ireland that works”. At last it happened; we couldn’t wait.