Irish terminal decline, two different ways

First, a Vanity Fair piece by the brilliant Michael Lewis, plotting the nose diving Irish economy after the popping of their housing bubble. Heavy on the leprechaun references, but worth a read.
It contains the following brilliant description of the the Irish finance minister:

"[The finance minister] proceeds to make the collapse of the Irish economy as uninteresting as possible. This awkward social responsibility—normalizing a freak show—is now a meaningful part of the job of being Ireland’s finance minister. At just the moment the crazy uncle leapt from the cellar, the drunken aunt lurched through the front door and, in front of the entire family and many important guests, they carved each other to bits with hunting knives. Daddy must now reassure eyewitnesses that they didn’t see what they think they saw."

Second, the New York Times has a description of the crisis of faith facing the Catholic church in Ireland. The article does a good job describing the historical strength of the Catholic Church in Ireland, and the depravity of the sex abuse scandals rocking the Irish Church.

"In proportion to its population, Ireland easily ranks as the country with the most reported cases of sex abuse within the church. It is second only to the United States in the total number of cases, despite a population approximately one-hundredth that of the U.S. The two reports published in 2009... fill five volumes and run more than 2,500 pages."

The New York Times link is quite graphic (words only!)- don't click unless you have a strong stomach.
I was horrified by Deliver us from Evil a few years back, a documentary worth seeking out about a serial paedophile priest who was at large in California in the 1970s. In some ways the NYT article is worse - sure the corruption and cover up in the US went quite a long way up the food chain, but the Irish corruption goes right to the top of the Catholic Church, including the current Pope whilst in his previous role leading the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
I honestly don't see how an organisation which has participated in such wide deceit of the Irish population can possibly claim any moral authority or indeed legitimacy. At least they are not Scientologists...