That hoary old Irish political truism really has returned home to roost

The actuality of boom and bust economics is that we simply do not learn — we gorge until we vomit, writes Gerard Howlin

TODAY, Epiphany, is the 12th and last day of Christmas. The three wise men, or three kings, arrive bearing extraordinary gifts. Remembering that in much of the world it is today, not on Christmas Day, that gifts are given.

Joan Burton arrived early, sending the traditional heralds of newspaper reports before her, to announce her largess. We can, she tells us, have spending increases and tax cuts together. It is a little known nugget that she and Charlie McCreevy, a man I remain admiring of, studied accountancy together. Now it seems she was cogging his homework. Her answer to question No 1 on the exam paper is identical word-for-word with his. It is strange how the world turns.