In late 2016, I travelled to Barcelona, the self-styled capital of the Mediterranean. The sun was shining, and, at first glance, the city was sparkling. However, the more you delved beyond the tourist thoroughfares, the more the societal fragmentation within the city manifested itself.    I was filming a television documentary for RTÉ on the influx of capital into post-crash Ireland, particularly the sheer scale of distressed debt that was being acquired by a handful of global financial titans. They did not like to be called vulture funds, but, in essence, that is exactly what they were, private equity giants…

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