I’m not quite sure what the official date of birth of the Celtic Tiger was, but in my own mind I perceived the really visible beginnings of economic growth around 1996. It was around that time that house prices began to lift off, albeit at a much slower rate than what we have seen in more recent years.

IT would appear that, as a nation, we are unhappy. “Yes,” I hear you say, “We know. We’ve seen Rip Off Republic.”

SO the Coalition Cabinet are going to study the statistics used in the TV series Rip Off Republic fronted by Eddie Hobbs (Irish Examiner, September 8).

IN this hectic world where people are working harder to sustain their lifestyle, the question of value is a serious issue.

It should be a chastened and worried Fianna Fáil parliamentary party which gathers in County Cavan today to consider what state it is in and, more particularly, what it is doing wrong to provoke such an angry reaction among the electorate.

THE countdown to the next general election begins in earnest today with Fianna Fáil meeting to discuss strategy and Fine Gael and Labour launching their first shared policy document.

THE silly season nears its end. Soon, Government ministers and opposition spokespersons will be scurrying back from their holidays for the beginning of a new Dáil term.

FIANNA FÁIL’S annual think-in next week will grapple with new ‘quality of life’ issues like childcare, long commuting times and the disintegration of community spirit that contributed to its two by-election losses this year as well as the Government’s falling support levels in opinion polls.

THE ripples of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s 10th anniversary interviews continue to cause little waves of coverage not only here in Ireland but even abroad.

YOU quoted Harvard professor and author Robert Putnam (Irish Examiner, November 18) as saying 80% of 14-year-olds in the US have TVs in their bedrooms.