Controversial broadcaster and commentator David McWilliams is a "clever but excitable" author whose prescriptions for getting Ireland out of its current economic woes range from "risky" to "plain potty", according to one of the world's most respected economic publications.

In a review of McWilliam's latest book, Follow the Money, the Economist magazine credits him with quickly spotting the existence of the property bubble here when he returned to Ireland from London at the height of the so-called boom.

"Having called the crash, he now advocates radical solutions," it notes. "Any bank that is unable to stand on its own feet should be allowed to fail, he says. And the Irish government should suspend its participation in the euro, devalue its new currency and rejoin the euro at a later date".

"The former is risky and the latter pain potty, akin to suggesting that California decouple from the dollar, launch its own currency and rejoin the American currency union once it has stolen a competitive march on other states."

The review, published in November, also includes an analysis of two other books examining the Irish economic collapse: Ship of Fools by journalist Fintan O'Toole and The Bankers by journalist and senator Shane Ross.

Overall, it notes that all three agree that greed and ineptitude on the part of the wealthy and the powerful are to blame for Ireland's economic crash being more violent than that suffered by other recession-hit countries.

But while there is a "great deal to this view", it suggests that such an interpretation might be "too narrow".

Describing Ireland as a "sometimes inward-looking island nation of fewer than 4.5 million people," it says this country "certainly has it fair share of corruption, cliques and stitch-ups".

"But property manias can take hold even in the best governed countries," it adds.

McWilliams did not return calls from the Sunday Tribune last week.