The Fighting Irish (that’s the Notre Dame university football team, since you asked) were in Dublin at the weekend, trouncing the US Navy in the Emerald Isle Classic. Other Americans have Ireland in their sights too. Franklin Templeton has emerged as the country’s biggest private sector creditor, holding €6bn of its sovereign debt at the end of June, or 7 per cent of total long-term government debt. The fund manager may have bought half of a €4.2bn bond issue in late July. That is a massive – and massively risky – vote of confidence in Ireland.

Ireland’s outstanding government bonds are very tightly held – about half by the European Central Bank, Irish banks, and Franklin Templeton. That makes for an illiquid market that the fund manager could have difficulty getting out of in a hurry.

It helps to explain why Ireland’s 10-year bond yield has contracted sharply this year – by about 130 basis points; Spain’s has gone in the opposite direction.