SQUEEZED out of residential city centre property markets during the boom, thousands of young people eager to get a foot on the property ladder ‘leapfrogged’ to cheaper newly-built housing estates stretching deep into the commuter belt.

SPEAKING recently at a conference of the Institute for Public Administration, President Mary McAleese stated, quite correctly, that we “should rigorously address any form of persistent under-performance in the public service and that tolerance of any under-performance was very damaging in reputational terms”.