Kenny buys the siopa message

IT was back to the good ol’ Celtic Tiger years yesterday as VIPs and trade promoters knocked back champagne and rubbed shoulders with the Taoiseach in the salubrious surroundings of the Shelbourne Hotel.

Before midday, guests were downing the bubbly surrounded by balloons, flags and a host of quaint Irish gifts being promoted at the launch of an online Irish trade shop.

As Enda Kenny answered questions from journalists about Ireland’s growing mortgage crisis, guests chatted in the upmarket Dublin hotel — the location of a fire sale auction of distressed properties weeks earlier.