Ireland Inc wades into rough seas

The huge changes under way in the world of corporate tax put Ireland in a precarious position

Picture is number 30 Botanic Avenue in Dublin. The small house has been named in a leak of documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca

Bankruptcy, Ernest Hemingway once wrote, occurs very slowly - and then all at once. The same is true for change in the tax world.

The publishing of the Panama papers unveiled an enormous international web of tax avoidance, accessible to the very wealthy. It did so in lurid technicolour, with a cast of characters straight out of a John Le Carré novel. Enormous, undeniable and fascinating.

It’s hard to tell whether it will ...