Tales of the unexpected

Pat Leahy: Ireland left the bailout 12 months ago this weekend. The year since has seen economic progress but also political upheaval

Pat Leahy

It was, by any standards, a historic moment, and the coalition’s leaders basked in the glow of the plaudits at home and abroad. Some of those plaudits, of course, were supplied by themselves.

But if the exit from the bailout marked the end of a grim chapter for the country and its government, the succeeding chapter was to take everyone by surprise. What has happened since Ireland bid farewell to the polite but ...