Weaker international markets and sharp falls by Bank of Ireland and Eircom drove the Irish market down sharply yesterday, with little sign that institutions are yet willing to come back in as buyers. Overseas institutions in particular have gone negative on the Irish market and seem to have accepted views - not views shared by domestic analysts - that the booming Irish economy is facing a downturn.

If one believes the Irish pundits and ignores the prophets of doom on the Irish economy in the British media, then the Irish market is a roaring buy. It remains to be seen, however, how much lower the Irish market will have to go before it reaches multiples that make it attractive to international buyers.

The Government must be delighted with the timing of the July flotation of Eircom - there would be no prospect of getting €3.90 for its shares now. Yesterday, Eircom fell 14 cents to a new closing low of €3.94 (£3.10). And while there were bids for the stock at the close, there have been many occasions in the past couple of weeks when the shares closed bid only to take another dive the following day.

Bank of Ireland is the other dog of the market at the moment, with the shares taking another hammering yesterday on the back of its mortgage rate cut last week and the consequent impact on margins, as well as a feeling that Bank of Ireland is the more exposed of the two big banks to further challenges from British banks. Bank of Ireland shares fell another 40 cents to €7.60 (£5.99) while AIB stemmed its losses and was unchanged on €11.45 (£9.02).