When the drama is finished and a new Irish government takes office, what economic challenges might lie ahead?

The EU matters to Ireland. The Programme for Government is packed with more than 120 references to Europe.

Whilst Ireland’s economy continues to do well, in mainland Europe, Germany is experiencing almost zero growth. France is suffering from a ballooning budget.

But Ireland may have economic problems coming too.

With almost full employment, Ireland needs to attract labour from the EU. Professor John O’Brennan from Maynooth University says that will be a task for the next government.

“Recruitment is a big challenge”, he said, speaking at a conference organised by the European Policy Centre (EPC).

The tech boom could also be shadowing underlying risks to Ireland.

The latest quarterly data from the Central Statistics Office published this week suggested a government surplice of €15.9 billion. But most of that came from the €14.1 billion the European Court of Justice forced Apple to pay to Ireland in taxes and back-dated interest.

Another big unknown for the economy is US President Donald Trump. Now back in the White House, the new government will have to see whether he goes ahead with a threat to introduce tariffs.

Jack Chambers, warned this week that tariffs represented “downside risks” for Ireland.

And that’s because “Ireland is the poster child of globalisation”, Professor Brigid Laffan told the EPC.

We are very vulnerable to a Trump shock and also developments in the sphere of security and defence in Europe, she warned.

If a trade war is ignited between the EU and US, the larger member states like France and Germany can afford to dig into their pockets to protect their own companies with massive subsidies.

Ireland doesn’t have the scale to do that. Though at the moment, with tech tax receipts, Ireland is cash rich.

That could be a temptation to the new government.