It’s not different this time either

It’s almost a decade since the reassuring but preposterously optimistic deceit — "but it’s different this time ... " became a national mantra.

The delusion was a widely endorsed government policy and it was considered treasonable to challenge it. It’s acceptance played a significant part in our economic collapse and the destruction of Fianna Fáil. That the delusion was followed by another official fantasy, the one predicting a “soft landing” probably qualifies those wildly inaccurate analyses for comparison with Sinéad Bean de Valera’s wonderful collection of Irish fairy tales.

Those delusions, embraced if not entirely believed by a great number of sensible people and, regrettably, promoted by a cheerleading media, brought a number of political, banking and regulatory careers to an ignominious end.