Unemployment keeps relentlessly creeping up, tax revenues keep plunging and house prices show no sign of stabilising, so why is the government suddenly being confronted by headlines which suggest the worst may be over?

The worst is not over when you peer at any of the three indicators listed above. But figures clearly show that the funding crisis of February/March is over for Ireland and at least two of three indicators listed above are described as lagging in nature. So does the government deserve any plaudits for the recovery in Ireland's credit metrics?

First it's important to examine just how big the improvement has been. The yield on 10-year Irish government bonds almost touched 6% just after St Patrick's Day, but has now narrowed to 5.18%, a considerable easing. Credit default swaps for Ireland, a form of bond insurance, are also in retreat from their red-alert territory of 379 basis points in early March to about 177 basis points now, an enormous 53% reversal.

So what might the explanation be for the trend? The answer lies to the east in Greece. The yield on Greek 10-year paper has also dropped by almost one percentage point in exactly the same period as Ireland. Clearly this is not an Irish story, but a European risk appetite story. Soothing comments in March from the German authorities about having some kind of contingency plan in reserve should a European peripheral economy get into funding difficulties has also clearly helped sentiment.

Nevertheless it's worth remembering that only a few weeks ago NTMA chief Michael Somers was faced with alarmingly scant demand for longer-term Irish debt. In April a 2018 Irish bond was barely fully subscribed to. But last week Somers had to almost beat subscribers away as another bond offer was over-subscribed by 4.8 times.

Ironically such buoyant demand might not do much for Somers' longevity. If the bond markets are in love with Irish debt again, Somers' previous indispensability to the mandarins in the Department of Finance may start to crumble, particularly as they are seething about his recent "frank" assessment of Nama.

A fresh funding crisis later this year might be just what Somers needs to remain at his desk.