Property crash the biggest threat to our dollar-driven boom economy

SOME of the programmes on the airwaves these days are a reflection of changing times. There is much argument about what people should do with their SSIA money.

Others are worried about whether the Celtic Tiger can continue to thrive.

In the 1980s there was a long queue of people outside the GPO in Dublin trying to get their applications for Donnelly visas mailed on time to give them a chance to immigrate legally into the US. It was seen as symbolic evidence of how low we had sunk. Patrick Pearse’s dream of an independent Republic had come true in 1949, but almost 40 years later it was turning into a nightmare and people were gathering at the GPO in the hope of fleeing the country.