When the Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, signalled his intention to turn the page on what have been perceived as some of the sleazier practices associated with business and politics on the Emerald Isle, he did so in a singularly Irish way - by cancelling the annual Fianna Fáil corporate hospitality tent at Galway Races.

The big tent at the summer horse racing event had come to symbolise much of what Ireland's indigenous critics of the Celtic Tiger phenomenon were getting at: the fat cats all gathered under one canvas chugging champagne suggested an uncomfortable (some said suffocating) degree of cronyism.

That may have been more acceptable to the population when the economy was booming and they felt wealthy, but now the storm clouds have gathered over Irish Republic's economy and ordinary citizens have been left dazed at the suddenness of the disappearance of what they had come to believe was an unshakeable new prosperity.

It was that confidence in their new wealth that had propelled Mr Cowen's predecessor, Bertie Ahern, to a third election victory in May 2007, in spite of revelations about his bizarre personal finances, revealed in a long-running public inquiry into corruption and land development.

Nobody cared a jot that when Mr Ahern was Finance Minister he did not have a bank account and chose to cash his salary cheque in his local boozer on a Friday evening, nor that he had received “dig-outs” from rich pals - some of whom turned up on quangos - during visits to watch his beloved Manchester United play at Old Trafford.

What a difference a year makes. Even when Mr Ahern was eventually forced to go in April this year, there was much public resentment that he had been ousted. But not any more. There has been a mood swing as deep as the recession.

No stronger proof for this has been the outcry over the running of Fás, the state training and employment agency.

Rody Molloy, the agency's director-general, was forced to resign over excessive expenses claims, including hundreds of thousands of pounds spent on first-class transatlantic flights, rounds of golf and visits to Florida nail bars.

He might have weathered the storm had it not been for a misjudged defence of his behaviour in a live radio interview in which he said, without a trace of irony: “I am entitled to travel first class.”

Therefore, there was little surprise yesterday about Mr FitzPatrick's special loan arrangements, only a collective sigh of “Here we go again”.

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