Bertie Ahern was also in top form when he addressed an American Chamber of Commerce in Ireland lunch on Thanksgiving Day.

Reflecting on CSO figures which showed a 9.1 per cent rise in GDP in the first quarter this year on the comparable period in 1998, he hankered after the days when such news made the front page.

Citing a recent Financial Times headline: "Boom, boom, boom", he noted: "And they were moving from 1.4 to 1.5 [per cent growth]. Unfortunately I'm not too sure what you have to do to get on front of the paper here."

In keeping with the spirit of the US feast day, he expressed gratitude to President Clinton and to George Mitchell for their efforts in the peace process.

Mr Clinton's commitment to the process was such that he had met Bertie on the margins of the OSCE summit in Turkey two weeks ago. "Other countries with 50 million people were waiting at the door," said the Taoiseach, adding that the only other extra-curriculur item on Mr Clinton's agenda was the crisis in Chechnya.

Mr Ahern did not reflect on whether this meant Ireland was in good company or bad.