My husband's little two man business did some work for a firm in Ireland - then the Irish said they couldn't pay for it, but they kept on trading.

Now they want his business to do more work for them and have been told that they either pay up what is owed and then up front for anything more or it doesn't get done.

Great is the wailing and the attempts to persuade - but somehow I think that the past is catching up with the Irish economy in general - and one firm in particular.

There's been some very wrong thinking going on and quite a few people living in cloud cuckoo land whilst people in the real world have been watching in sorrow and disbelief.