Irish Economy 2009: In this year of turmoil, much attention has been given to toxic assets with their alphabet soup acronyms, held by banks. In Ireland, the toxic assets have been of the human variety and while bringing order to the banking sector is crucial, politics and political leadership remain the key issues. With the death of the Celtic Tiger and a grim outlook for the year ahead and beyond, the country is in dire need of an effort that could be termed the moral equivalent of war. However, the current blundering government supported by the one-issue Green Party, has no credibility and a general election is needed that would focus on the stark choices to stabilise the economy and prepare for recovery.