Only five and a half years ago The Economist declared Ireland the world’s tiniest superpower. Now foreign media is flooded with criticism for the country that used to “get its way”. And not just from the usual suspects in The Telegraph and The Spectator, but from The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times. How did Ireland – if you will permit me this winsome neologism – lose its rizz?

In answering the question it is important to avoid recency bias. By the time of the Herzog Park debacle, Ireland had already cemented its reputation in the UK, at least, for widespread tolerance of anti-Semitism. Whether you think that charge is fair is of secondary importance. The facts are this: British commentary did not react to Herzog Park with shock (outrage, yes) but with eye-rolling. “Oh but of course – that’s Ireland for you … ”

Take the words of Libby Purves in The Times of London – which is hardly a hostile entity to the Irish State. On Herzog Park, she resignedly said: “Ireland in general is better than this.” But only after enumerating all the incidents she has observed that made it unremarkable and unsurprising: when Michael D Higgins used Holocaust Memorial Day to talk about Gaza; the fact that anti-Zionists wear T-shirts that say “Paddystinian” on........

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