Is Ireland the last home of the financial tiger? One indication that it may be is the steady influx of foreign estate agents and developers seeking to sell their projects to investors. For instance, this weekend's exhibition of English, Spanish and US property in Dublin is organised by a British company whose main stomping ground used to be Hong Kong and Singapore. Not any more. After Ireland, they will take their unsold wares on to South Africa (which hardly merits the "tiger" appellation these days) and from there to Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Indeed, some of the London property on show was formerly owned by Middle Eastern investors who, for one reason or another, are now pulling out. The waves of property ownership that break on, and recede from, a market like London's are an indication of the world's economy and, sometimes, of political developments.

Will the current Irish wave recede too? Or, more importantly, when and why?