The Irish bubble is about to burst or that at least is reportedly the view of a growing number of British investors. Over recent weeks, this is the line that has repeatedly been spun, particularly by those seeking to explain the marked lack of demand for Eircom shares.
Irish economists have of course begged to differ, unsurprisingly say the critics given they are in the business of selling Irish assets. So what is the story?
In the City Of London there does not appear to be any great talking down of the Irish economy. Indeed, it is easier to find a London economist who is positive about the outlook here than the other way around.
But there are some. Mr Stephen King, a global economist with HSBC in London, is less bullish.
Mr King has recently written a paper on bubbles past and present and is of the view that the Irish economy has almost all the hallmarks of a bubble, as does the US. What he is less sure about is when it will burst.
According to his research, there are several indicators of bubbles over recent decades. A deteriorating current account position is a classic indicator, he says. Only this week the Central Bank was pointing out that our own current account is about to go into deficit after years in surplus as imports are bought in.
Other indicators are strong money supply growth. Irish monetary aggregates are growing at well over 20 per cent, euro zone money supply is growing at 5.4 per cent while the US figure is 5.1 per cent.
Heightened inflows of capital are another sign. In the US case this is a legacy of the Asian crisis, although it is probably not relevant to the Irish economy.
Interestingly, according to Mr King, strong growth in the absence of inflationary pressures is associated with past bubbles. He says that this combination, although good news in the short term, seduces investors into believing in "new paradigms".
This, of course, has been one of the remarkable phenomena of the Irish experience. According to Mr King, inflation usually rears its head after a bubble bursts but in the Irish case this is likely to happen beforehand.
"There is likely to be a significant rise in the domestic price level as the economy loses competitiveness. This will probably happen through an extremely rapid rise in services inflation which is already running at above 5 per cent."
The main risk, he says, is if the supply side improvement or rapid growth in the labour force does not continue. The other is the one which all British investors point to - the possible damage that an interest rate rise could do.
"Ireland has benefited hugely from rate convergence with the euro zone and there is a risk if there is a sustained move to higher rates. For the time being the ECB will not be pushing up rates aggressively but when the time does come it could undermine the good news which has supported asset prices."
He added that rates do not need to go anywhere near the 15 per cent seen in the UK at the end of the 1980s to undermine a bubble. "Japanese rates moved up three times from 2.5 per cent to 4.25 over 1989 and that had a much more damaging impact than many people expected," he noted.
But Irish economists fundamentally disagree with this thesis. Even officials from the Department of Finance and Central Bank are relatively sanguine.
In a paper this week, the Bank's manager of economic analysis, Mr Tom O'Connell, argues that, while commercial property is probably set for a fall, the risk of an overall major setback is low.
According to Mr Jim Power, chief economist at Bank of Ireland, any comparison with Japan is spurious. "Its banking sector was in serious financial difficulty, there was political corruption and an equity market which was totally inflated, as well as grossly inflated property and house prices."
On the other hand, he says, Ireland has political corruption of frightening proportions and inflated asset prices but there are strong fundamental forces driving the economy including demographics and foreign direct investment.
The second area of risk is employment which could be impacted if US multinationals started to pull out in large numbers.
But according to Mr Power, despite spending a few days this week in London, he did not come across a widespread economic view that was negative on Ireland.
Even this, according to Dr Dan McLaughlin, chief economist at ABN Amro, is unlikely. He says British investors rather than economists are basing their fears largely on their own 1980s boom.
But the Central Bank no longer has control of interest rates and the markets are now pricing in ECB rates to go to 4 per cent by end of 2000. "That may be too pessimistic but it is hardly the disastrous scenario that some paint."
The second argument among investors, which also has some followers here, is that the State becomes steadily uncompetitive as rising asset prices push wages higher. This diminishes the attractiveness of coming here as labour shortages develop and wage inflation erodes competitiveness which brings the boom to an end.
But according to Dr McLaughlin, this is more an argument for a much more gradual slowing in the economy.
On top of that, Ireland is a long way from being uncompetitive. Irish unit labour costs are falling. Wages are up 5 per cent or 6 per cent but output is growing at double digit pace.
He points out that only Spain and Portugal have lower wages. "The notion that we will become uncompetitive over a short period is ridiculous and has no foundation," he says.
