Massive global forces have been unleashed in the past 12 months and Ireland has proved very vulnerable to their worst effects. Ours is one of the most open economies in the world. It’s also closely tied to the American economic cycle. Thanks to the influence of the Progressive Democrats, and their former sidekick in Fianna Fáil, Charlie McCreevy, it is also among the most lightly regulated. That was fine – or might have seemed it – when things were on the up but by jaysus it’s been anything but over the last year.