Every year or so, the International Monetary Fund dispatches a team of economists to assess Ireland’s public finances and report back to the world. Every year, they say more or less the same thing. And every year, the political establishment nods politely, files the document away, and gets back to spending.
This week, the IMF published its Article IV concluding statement for 2026. It is, as these documents go, a model of tactful alarm. The fund’s economists praised Ireland’s “strong performance,” acknowledged the resilience of the domestic economy, and then proceeded to explain — with the carefully modulated urgency of a doctor delivering a diagnosis to a patient who doesn’t want to hear it — that the foundations of this prosperity are considerably less solid than they appear.
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