By the time Peter Burke qualified as a chartered accountant, Ireland was sliding towards the most severe economic collapse in its history.  It was 2007 and, instead of easing into a stable professional career, Burke found himself sitting across from owners of small and medium-sized businesses facing existential questions about their future. “These are not big companies,” he tells me, sitting in his office in the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment. “These are medium to small companies. They were saying, ‘How many people do I have to let go? Can I save this business?’ And to see the stress…

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