Sir, - Like many people, I sometimes think of the "Celtic Tiger" as a figment of my imagination. We are constantly bombarded with statistics on how good things are (usually from people with a vested interest in hyping the "Celtic Tiger", such as banks), when in fact a large minority of people are actually worse off than they were, say, four years ago.
Of course the clearest example of this is housing, be it ownership or renting. People may have had increases in wages, but these are insignificant compared with the increase in house prices.
It would indeed be ironic if people were now forced to emigrate - not because they cannot find employment, but rather because they cannot purchase or rent a home in a country that is vastly underpopulated.
Here's to the future. - Yours, etc., Brendan Nestor,
Sandymount, Dublin 4.