Investors who feel unnerved by a perceived culture change at CRH need some reassurance

Take a look at the Irish stock market today: there are precious few companies listed on it with a valuation in excess of €5 billion. Look at the leaders of 15 years ago: the vast majority of them have either disappeared from the market (as in the case of Elan), gone bust (as with Baltimore), or been reduced to ‘penny’ share status and substantially nationalised (as with AIB and Bank of Ireland).

Today, ...