The certainty of misery is over. The feel-bad factor that dominated since the advent of Covid is receding and has been for some time. Covid built on the uncertainty of Brexit, which itself began when the wreckage of the economic crash was a recent memory. The invasion of Ukraine arriving as Covid diminished launched a cost-of-living crisis in a country that already had a housing crisis. The national mood is now lightening a little.

The Credit Union Consumer Sentiment Index published this week posted the largest monthly gain in confidence in over three years. The sudden bounce is underscored by a slower but almost continuous rise since the end of 2022. It increased to 74.2 in January from 62.4 in December, and from 48.7 in December 2022. Historically, these are not euphoric highs. Christmas bliss can be discounted for several reasons. A seasonal switch-off from economic and political news always helps. This Christmas, falling energy prices, the threat of a grocery price war, and for those who tuned in, positive economic news buoyed sentiment.

That is relief for some but for others, especially in politics, it heralds the misery of uncertainty. Opinion polls featuring runners and riders in the next election have come hot on the heels of one another. In other news, polling shows that immigration has overtaken housing as the top issue on people’s minds. It’s topsy-turvy.

What is clear is that the certainties of 2023 –........

© The Irish Times