Guilty as charged: Irish standup festival puts economics in the dock

Kilkenomics event, in which financial insiders are grilled by comedians, shows that the underlying issues of the eurozone crisis remain unresolved

The court is in session. The jury has been chosen and the public gallery is packed. The clerk has sworn in the first witness and the trial in Kilkenny's courtroom No 2 is ready to begin.

This, though, is a tribunal with a difference. It is not an individual in the dock but economics. The event is part of the Kilkenomics festival, four days in which economists, financial experts and media commentators are asked questions by Ireland's standup comedians.