Back in the early 1990s, long before the Celtic Tiger appeared on the horizon, Michael Somers spent much of his time travelling the world trying to convince a large number of global investors to give him relatively small amounts of money. As chief executive of the newly formed NTMA, it was his job to raise debt on behalf of the state. The body itself was controversial, with a great deal of the public sector aghast that such an influential task should be given to an agency outside of the traditional public sector. But having won the battle to get it…

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