Irish Economy: Economists have been the focus of a lot of attention during the current world recession, as people struggle for answers to the rapid change from the sunny scenarios, which  politicians claimed full credit for. In Ireland, three economists each have an opportunity to make a direct difference of consequence, in the aftermath of the shock news for the Irish, that the free lunch hadn't been invented, after all. George Lee's stunning by-election triumph, gives the former economics editor at the State broadcaster RTÉ, an opportunity for contributing to policymaking of consequence, in a parliament largely made up of nonentities, who are vastly overpaid compared with the jobs they are capable of doings; UCD economist Colm McCarthy, who has had many years of work experience in the private sector, is for the second time in two decades, trawling through the dim recesses of Ireland's Byzantine public spending system for savings' proposals and NUI Galway economist Alan Ahearne, a past critic of the out-of-control property boom, is currently an adviser to the Minister for Finance.