Micheál Martin

Taoiseach — Ireland

Country momentum 0 — Quarterly momentum: the Bureau's read on the country's trajectory over the last quarter, from −10 (deteriorating fast) to +10 (accelerating).

• Leads the eurozone's standout windfall economy — power through prudence, not weight.
• A 2.5%-of-GNI* budget surplus with 2.1% domestic-demand growth; the Apple-tax windfall banked, not squandered.
• Among the EU's richest per capita on every honest measure; EU loyalist riding the tax-reform tides.
• The housing failure is the moral deficit on an otherwise strong sheet.