Teenage trips - Have ticket, will travel

IF travel does broaden the mind the generation of Irish people approaching adulthood will be far more sophisticated, worldly wise and urbane than any gone before.

A quarter of Irish children have been to America before their 16th birthday. Almost every child (98%) has made a trip to mainland Europe before they reach 16, 5% have been to Asia or Australia.

There is a sense though that these are the habits of another time and no matter how cheap air travel remains this trend must be finite. Carbon taxes will have an influence just as more expensive oil will.

Nevertheless, it is wonderful to see that so many young Irish people have the sense of adventure that so may of their forefathers had and that they have the option, unlike earlier generations, of choosing where they might go.