After the scarves and jerseys, the laughter ended in Brussels

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was put on the spot as he made his way into the headquarters of the European Council in Brussels for a key summit on Thursday.

Who would he be cheering for in the World Cup Group G match between Belgium and England? It was not the first stand-off between Brussels and London in recent times, and perhaps Varadkar thought it best to remember what side his bread is buttered on.

“Well look, I’m here in Belgium in Brussels so of course I’m going to be cheering for the home team,” he said. “But of course if Belgium wins, England will probably get an easier ride in the next round. So perhaps it’s one of those win-win scenarios.”

It was the last win-win scenario he was to encounter during his visit, with the summit dealing with the migration crisis in the Mediterranean, the EU’s budget, Franco-German plans for greater fiscal integration and – of course – Brexit.

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When they all arrived, Belgian prime minister Charles Michel and his British counterpart Theresa May exchanged respective football jerseys, while Varadkar donned a Belgian scarf. Everyone guffawed, but that was where the laughter ended.

After the meeting there was much talk of the danger of a no-deal Brexit, with several – including Varadkar – saying they would step up preparations for the possibility of the UK crashing out next year.

He said contingency arrangements would have to be made at ports and airports, but senior Government figures insisted that there would be no preparations made for the possibility of a hard border.

That will have pleased PwC customs expert John O'Loughlin, who warned that the Border question was "distracting" from the reality that "west-east" is the most critical Irish trade border.

Less impressed will have been the UK's Freight Transport Association, which warned that a bad or no deal result in the negotiations could lead to "near-paralysis of freight" at the Border.

Separately, with hundreds of institutions looking to abandon London for Dublin, Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), was in Dublin to say the State must enhance its regulatory and supervisory capacities to cope.

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Tipperary-based Independent TD Michael Lowry and his refrigeration company were fined a total of €25,000 after they were convicted of two charges each of delivering an incorrect corporation tax return and failing to keep proper accounts.

Lowry’s solicitor Michael Collins was in flying form afterwards, claiming Lowry was the first citizen in the State to be put on trial for “paying too much tax”. It was all down to the “Dublin media”, which had been after Lowry “for years”.

Collins said Lowry’s home was raided by Revenue officials who were – imagine – “complete strangers”. They had the cheek to “invade” his house and rifle through his personal effects. Lowry said he was “vindicated” by the guilty verdict. Go figure.

On a related matter, more than one million workers won’t pay any income tax this year, according to figures from Revenue, as the number of tax-exempt earners approaches the 2007 high.

Revenue was also before the Public Accounts Committee, where its officials said €920 million of €2.3 billion in unpaid tax debt could not yet be collected because it was under appeal.

There was better news for Revenue as official figures from the Central Bank of Ireland showed the closing of a loophole that had allowed vulture funds to boost their profits on distressed Irish property loans helped scupper the tax-free status of funds worth up to €55 billion.

The total value of Irish-registered special purpose vehicles (SPVs) – a tax efficient type of company structure that was used by several vulture funds here – fell by €58.6 billion to €674.5 billion in the first quarter of 2018.

The regulator attributed about €55 billion of this decline to the decision of a small number of very large funds to exit their so-called “section 110 status”, which was created by the State two decades ago to attract foreign securitisation funds.

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IMF head Christine Lagarde conjured images of Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe decked out in his overalls atop of a ladder during her visit to Dublin this week. Borrowing a phrase from John F Kennedy, she said “one should fix the roof when the sun shines”, warning that despite all the positive economic indicators these days we’d best not lose the run of ourselves.

Later the IMF made a number of recommendations to the Government as part of its annual consultations with member states. It said the State should reduce its stake in the banking sector, boost efforts to expand housing supply, and get more women into the workforce.

The economic outlook remains “broadly positive”, it said, but the housing sector remains the key focus in light of the average increase of 13 per cent in house prices for March 2018.

In the wider economic picture, the IMF called for protective buffers for the economy as it pointed to global protectionism, adverse Brexit effects, and ongoing changes in the international tax landscape as posing challenges to the economy.

There were echoes of this over at Dublin Castle where the National Economic Dialogue took place, as Taoiseach Leo Varadkar ruled out “throwing money” at the State’s problems.

He said the Government would adopt a prudent approach to the public finances by paying down debt, and moving the budget into a surplus position in 2020.

Meanwhile, financial services firm EY said the Republic’s gross domestic product would grow at 4.9 per cent this year – more than four times the rate of the North. That’s assuming a smooth post-Brexit process.