There is a small Celtic country on the fringes of Europe which is very firmly part of the European Union. Opinion polls show it is, in fact, one of the most enthusiastic members, with only 14 per cent of the population having negative opinions about the EU and its institutions.

The currency of this nation of 4.6 million people is the Euro, allegedly the kiss of death for any economy outside of the German-dominated "core". And yet it is powering ahead. Last year, GDP grew by 7.8 per cent, a rate most countries can only dream about. Finally, it is a magnet for foreign investment, and has a substantial trade surplus with the rest of the world.

This happy land is, of course, not Scotland, but the Republic of Ireland, which – almost without anyone noticing – has completed a remarkable economic comeback from the collapse of its banking sector in 2008. Back then, Ireland needed a bailout of 64 billion Euros from Brussels, a debt that would require a generation to repay. It looked like the days of the Celtic Tiger were well and truly over.

But the recovery which started around three years ago has transformed Ireland’s fortunes. Government debt has tumbled from its all-time high in 2008 to well below 100 per cent of GDP. Unemployment has fallen to single figures. Beyond that, anyone who has been to the Republic in the past few months will see all the signs of a healthy and growing economy all around them. Facebook and Google are just two of the leading high-tech multinationals which have made Ireland their European base, bringing with them an affluent millennial workforce that has helped to fill the trendy bars and restaurants of Dublin. Tourism is booming, with fashionable new hotels and country retreats opening all over the country.

What a tantalising story Ireland must be for the SNP. If only Nicola Sturgeon and her supporters could convince the Scottish people this was the future that awaited them as an independent country within the EU. As a lukewarm Unionist depressed by the miserable alternative of Brexit, I would be tempted to vote Yes. I suspect many others would feel the same. The debate would be over before the first ballot in that second referendum was cast.

And yet, what a mountain to climb the Irish example also represents. The hard truth is that Ireland has become a much richer nation. Its GDP per capita has reached a peak of around £40,000 a year, compared to roughly £30,000 for Scotland. Even worse, almost all of Ireland’s economic indicators are heading in the right direction, while Scotland’s are going into reverse. In 2015, the same year that Ireland leaped ahead by 7.8 per cent, Scotland’s contracted by 1 per cent. And this is before the full effects of the drastic fall in oil prices have been assessed.

To the SNP, all of this doubtless represents even more arguments for becoming that independent nation and remaining in the EU. Free Scotland from the shackles of the failing, Brexit-bound UK, and it too could aim for the heights of Irish economic success.

I wish I could buy that argument, I really do. But here’s the problem: I don’t trust Scotland’s increasingly left-leaning political classes – from Labour, SNP and Greens all the way to Ruth Davidson’s "Conservatives" – to enact the kind of liberal economic policies that have provided the foundations for Ireland’s economic boom.

Let’s take the most obvious example: corporation tax. Ireland’s low rate of 12.5 per cent is undoubtedly one of the factors which has attracted so many world class multinationals to Ireland. Would the SNP or any other Scottish political party have the courage to do the same? Lowering business taxes was, of course, one of Alex Salmond’s major promises when he was First Minister, but Ms Sturgeon scrapped the pledge in 2015.

Then how about income tax? The top rate in Ireland is just 40 per cent. In this year’s Scottish elections, only the Tories mentioned the idea of lowering taxes. But their case was drowned out by the other parties competing with each other about how high they could raise them.

I could go on. Ireland has been consistently rated one of the most economically liberal countries in the world today, with pro-capitalist policies designed to stimulate the private sector, and attract world class talent through competitive tax rates.

There is no iron law which would prevent an independent Scotland from pursuing the same policies. But with a political culture which increasingly places notions of "equality" far above those of economic freedom, it seems highly unlikely it would be inclined to follow Ireland down the same road to prosperity.