Anglo Trial: Brave decision by the jury pushed back against the national mood

Can you imagine the outcry if charges had been preferred against Anglo executives but not Seánie?

The streets were quiet again last night. No rioting, no looting, no angry mob marching on Leinster House, demanding retribution. Everybody just got on with their lives and reconciled themselves to the fact that Seán FitzPatrick would not be going to jail.

Over the course of the last 11 weeks of the trial of the Anglo Three, one strand of barstool opinion had it that there would be riots if Mr FitzPatrick was acquitted. The driving force behind the spectacular rise and equally spectacular fall of Anglo Irish Bank is regarded as the personification of all that led to the destruction of the economy. He is, probably unfairly, something of a hate figure for great swathes of the population. In a state where accountability is absent, he has provided a sump for public anger.