Lessons from down under

For years, Ireland was the boom baby of Europe, the golden child of economic liberalism. It grew fat on low taxes, generous friends and good fortune. Up close, the Celtic Tiger looks more ragged these days. Are these first hints of trouble also an augury that Europe is not, as the optimists suppose, going to escape scot-free from global recession? Are faultlines in the liberal model now – belatedly – being exposed?